Web-based entry of financial transaction information and subsequent download of such information

• US 6,446,048 B1
• Filed: 09/03/1999
• Issued: 09/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Wells, Michael L., Wells, Joseph W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US09/390,138
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/26, 705/35-40, 707/10, 707/100-104
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Systems, methods and related software products which enable users to temporarily store and subsequently retrieve information are disclosed. The system embodiments include a plurality of input devices, client computers (each having a user-specific personal finance application) and a web-site server with a database. The input devices, client computers and server are communicatively linked via a communication network so that a plurality of users can temporarily store and/or manipulate financial transaction information on the server from any of the input devices. Each user can also transmit financial profile information to the server. This information enables the server to replicate the unique profile characteristics for each of the finance applications. This, in turn, simplifies remote entry of information, subsequent download of that information and integration of such information into each user'"'"'s personal finance application. When the user accesses a respective client computer having the user'"'"'s customized personal finance application, the user can download the previously stored information and automatically integrate the information into the user'"'"'s personal finance application.

Claims

1. A method of storing financial transaction information in a central database, the database being accessible via a communication network and being capable of accommodating a plurality of user-specific financial profiles wherein each user-specific profile corresponds to a user-specific profile maintained by a user'"'"'s remotely located personal finance application, the method comprising:

receiving, at the central database, user-specific financial profile information via the communication network;

creating a user-specific financial profile within the database, the financial profile at least in part including the received user-specific financial profile information;

receiving financial transaction information, at least some of the information being selected from the financial profile of the database; and

storing the financial transaction information in the database such that the information can be subsequently downloaded into the user'"'"'s remotely located personal finance application.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein

the step of receiving financial transaction information includes receiving financial transaction information from the user at a first computer; and

the method further comprises;

receiving a request to download at least some of the user'"'"'s stored financial transaction information, the request being received from the user at a second computer that is different from the first computer, the second computer including the user'"'"'s remotely located personal finance application; and

downloading the requested financial transaction information to the personal finance application of the second computer.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein

the step of receiving financial transaction information is repeated;

and

the step of receiving a request further comprises receiving a request to provide all of the financial transaction information for the user.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the personal finance application has a financial profile which is identical to the database financial profile.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of updating the personal finance application by integrating into the personal finance application the financial transaction information provided in the step of downloading.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving financial profile information comprises receiving a category list.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein

the step of receiving user-specific financial profile information comprises receiving the financial profile information from a user;

and

the step of creating a financial profile within the database comprises creating a financial profile which is identical to the financial profile of the personal finance application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving financial transaction information comprises receiving financial transaction information from at least one of a user and a third-party web-site where a related financial transaction occurred.

9. A method of storing financial transaction information for a plurality of users in a central database, the users having associated personal finance applications with user-specific financial profiles, the method comprising:

receiving identification information from one of the users;

establishing in the database a financial profile for the user, the financial profile (a) being associated with the user'"'"'s identification information, (b) at least in part corresponding to the user-specific financial profile of the user'"'"'s personal finance application, and (c) comprising at least one of a list of accounts, a list of classes and a list of categories;

receiving financial transaction information from the user, the received transaction information comprising at least one of a user-selected account, a user-selected class and a user-selected category which is selected from the database financial profile; and

storing the received financial transaction information in the database for subsequent retrieval by the user, the information being stored in association with the user'"'"'s identification information.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein each database financial profile comprises at least one of a predetermined list of accounts, a predetermined list of categories and a predetermined list of classes.

11. A method of establishing a user-specific financial profile on a web-site database which is accessible via a global communication network, the database being capable of storing financial transaction information and downloading the financial transaction information to a remote personal finance application, the method comprising:

receiving identification information from a user via the communication network;

receiving user-specific financial profile information from the user via the communication network, the financial profile information at least in part corresponding to a financial profile of a remote personal finance application;

associating the financial profile information with the identification information; and

storing the financial profile information in the database.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the financial profile information comprises at least one of an account list, a category list and a class list.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps

receiving financial transaction information from at least some of the plurality of users via the global communication network;

associating the financial transaction information with respective identification information; and

storing the financial transaction information in the database.

14. A web-site system for storing financial information provided by a plurality of mobile users and for subsequently distributing the stored information to the same respective users, the web-site being connected to a global communication network and comprising:

a database for storing information provided by the users, the database comprising at least one user-specific financial profile for each of the users, each financial profile, at least in part, corresponding to financial profile information provided by the respective users;

a plurality of request-handlers for processing requests to retrieve previously stored information; and

a service manager communicatively linked to the database, the request handlers and the communication network for managing the flow of information therebetween wherein the information stored in the database can be retrieved by the users and integrated into the user'"'"'s associated personal finance applications.

15. The web-site of claim 14 wherein

the service manager receives information exchange-requests, via the communication network, in batches;

decomposes each batch of requests; and

assigns the decomposed requests to the request-handlers for processing.

16. A distributed information storage, modification and retrieval system, which is communicatively linked via a communication network, the system being capable of differentiating between the plural users regardless of location and comprising:

a web-site for temporarily storing financial information provided by the plural users at various locations, the web-site being accessed by the plural users via the communication network and comprising a database with a plurality of user-specific financial profiles;

a distributed plurality of input devices for providing identification and financial transaction information to the web-site;

a distributed plurality of client computers permitting the plural users to retrieve financial information from, and to provide financial profile information to, the web-site via the communication network, each client computer including a personal finance application which can integrate therein financial information retrieved from the web-site, each personal finance application comprising a user-specific financial profile which, at least in part, corresponds to at least one of the database financial profiles.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein

the client computers and input devices provide, modify and/or retrieve the financial information by sending information-exchange-requests to the web-site, each request being one of

(a) a request to store information,

(b) a request to modify previously stored information,

(c) a request to delete previously stored information, or

(d) a request to retrieve previously stored information.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein

each of the client computers comprises a batch-handler for batching a plurality of requests together prior to delivery of the requests to the web-site;

and

the service manager decomposes the request-batches into individual requests.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein

the web-site receives user name and password information, via the communication network, from at least some of the plural users;

the web-site utilizes the user name and password information to generate unique profile-identification information for each user; and

the web-site delivers the profile-identification information to the respective client computers so that the profile-identification information can subsequently enable automatic user-recognition by the service manager.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein the web-site further comprises a plurality of request handlers operatively associated with the service manager and the database, the request handlers processing individual requests by the users to

(a) store information,

(b) retrieve previously stored information,

(c) modify previously stored information, and/or

(d) delete previously stored information.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein at least some of the input devices comprise the combination of a computer and a communicatively linked web-site where financial transactions occur.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein at least some of the financial profiles replicate at least one of the application financial profiles.

23. A method of temporarily storing financial information, which is provided by a plurality of mobile users, so that the users can subsequently incorporate the financial information into the users'"'"'personal finance applications, the users providing and retrieving information via a communication network and the method comprising:

receiving financial profile information via the communication network, the profile information corresponding to financial profile information of the user'"'"'s personal finance application;

receiving financial transaction information to be temporarily stored, via the communication network;

storing the financial transaction information in association with the financial profile information so that the financial information can be retrieved upon subsequent request;

subsequently receiving information-retrieval requests via the communication network; and

distributing the stored financial transaction information to the user'"'"'s personal finance application via the communication network.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of subsequently receiving includes

receiving batches of information-exchange-requests from the plural users, each request being one of

(a) a request to store information,

(b) a request to modify previously stored information,

(c) a request to delete previously stored information, or

(d) a request to retrieve previously stored information; and

decomposing the exchange-request batches into individual exchange-requests.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of receiving financial information comprises receiving financial transaction information from a web-site at which a related financial transaction occurred.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of receiving financial information comprises receiving financial transaction information from the plurality of mobile users.

27. A web-site system for temporarily storing financial information belonging to a plurality of mobile users so that the users can provide financial information to the web-site from respective first computers and so that the users can subsequently retrieve the information from respective second computers, the second computers each comprising a personal finance application with a financial profile, the web-site being accessible via a communication network and comprising:

a database for storing financial information, the database comprising a plurality of financial profiles wherein at least one database financial profile corresponds to one application financial profile;

a service manager, communicatively linked to the database and the communication network, for managing the flow of information between the communication network and the database, wherein the financial information stored in the database can be retrieved and integrated into personal finance applications of the second computer.

28. The web-site of claim 27 wherein

each of the financial profiles is assigned profile-identification information; and

the service manager utilizes the profile-identification information to selectively limit access to the financial information stored within the database.

29. The web-site of claim 27 wherein each database financial profile comprises at least one of an account list, a category list and a class list.

30. The web-site of claim 27 wherein at least one of the database financial profiles replicates at least one application financial profile.

31. The web-site of claim 27 wherein at least one of the financial profiles comprises user-specific financial profile information provided by one of the users from a respective second computer.

32. The web-site of claim 27 where at least one of the financial profiles comprises predetermined and generic financial profile information.

33. The web-site of claim 27 wherein the database, at least in part, stores financial information selected by the users from respective database financial profiles.

34. The web-site of claim 27 wherein the database, at least in part, stores financial information not selected from the respective database financial profiles.

35. The web-site of claim 27 wherein the database, at least in part, also stores financial transaction information provided by at least one third-party web-site.

36. The web-site of claim 27 wherein the database, at least in part, stores financial information which has been modified by a user from one of the first computers.