Push banking system and method

• US 6,535,855 B1
• Filed: 03/31/1998
• Issued: 03/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: The Chase Manhattan Bank (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: The Chase Manhattan Bank (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: Schafer, Randy, Schmidt, Richard Q., Slavin, Fred, Cahill, Thomas, Vayner, Leonid, Chabra, Steven, Westerman, Christopher P., Clowney, Vincent, Wynn, Janet, Cowan, John, Velarde, Wil, Fitzgerald, Thomas, Fuertes, Louis, O'Connor, Lloyd
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano, Edward R.
• Application Number:
  US09/052,777
• Time in Patent Office: 1,813 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35,1,40,76,50 709/200,217 340/540,679,870.01,870.16
• US Class Current: 705/346
• 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 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting

Abstract

A software/hardware system which provides immediate, on-going interaction between an institution and its customers. The system communicates with customers/subscribers over numerous, different communication channels and actively screens market conditions for situations that could potentially impact its customers, based on the customers'"'"' unique situation and prearranged instructions. The system and method interacts with the institution'"'"'s processing centers which handle incoming customer transactions and the system creates outgoing messages. The system has a decision making component used to make the decision in each case as to which information to push to the customer in the form of a message. The message is delivered to the customer via any communication channels presently known. The system allows the customer to respond electronically or by telephone or by fax or by any means, all of which are intended to allow the institution to receive the response information from the customer expeditiously and to enable the institution to act upon the customer'"'"'s instructions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying information related to a subscriber;

identifying at least two different channels of communication with which to communicate with the subscriber;

creating a message containing the information, the message further containing response information enabling the subscriber to generate and transmit a response to the message over at least one of the two channels of communication; and

transmitting the message to the subscriber contemporaneously on the at least two different channels of communication.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein there are a plurality of subscribers, the method further comprising performing each of the method steps for each of the subscribers.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

creating a plurality of messages;

establishing a priority of the plurality of messages; and

wherein the step of transmitting includes transmitting messages in accordance with the established priority.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising retransmitting a message if a response has not been received from the subscriber in a predetermined period of time.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving an acknowledgement that the message was successfully transmitted over at least one of the at least two channels of communication.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising encrypting the message prior to its transmission.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising formatting the message for each of the at least two channels of communication prior to transmission.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information is time critical.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying at least one alternative channel of communication with which to communicate with the subscriber; and

transmitting the message over the at least one alternative channel of communication if a response has not been received from the subscriber in a predetermined period of time.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising assigning a time at which the message will become stale.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising periodically retransmitting the message until the message becomes stale or until a response is received from the subscriber.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving a response to the message from the subscriber.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the information is related to at least one account of the subscriber, the method further comprising altering the at least one account of the subscriber in response to the response from the subscriber.

14. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising authenticating the transmitted message and the received response.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of identifying the information further includes monitoring at least one data source for information which affects the subscriber.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the subscriber has accounts at a financial institution and wherein the monitoring step includes monitoring the accounts.

17. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the method is performed on a system and wherein the monitoring step includes monitoring databases within the system and monitoring external data sources.

18. A method comprising:

identifying information related to a subscriber'"'"'s account;

creating a message containing the information;

embedding the message in an applet, the applet providing functionality for the subscriber to display the message, to respond to the message, and to alter the subscriber'"'"'s account; and

transmitting the applet to the subscriber.

19. A method comprising:

identifying information related to a subscriber;

identifying at least one channel of communication with which to communicate with the subscriber;

creating a message containing the information;

transmitting the message to the subscriber on the at least one channel of communication;

receiving a response from the subscriber; and

correlating the response to the message.

20. A method a recited in claim 19, the method further comprising:

creating transmission information indicating that the message was transmitted; and

wherein the step of correlating includes modifying the transmission information indicating the response has been received.

21. A method a recited in claim 19, wherein the information is related to at least one account of the subscriber, the method further comprising:

altering the at least one account of the subscriber in response to the response from the subscriber.

22. A method of communicating with subscribers to a system, the method comprising:

establishing subscriber profiles for a plurality of subscribers, the subscriber profiles containing information related to subscriber identification, preferred channels of communication and alternative channels of communication;

periodically scanning at least one of databases internal to the system and data sources external to the system for first information which affects any of the plurality of subscribers;

actively monitoring at least one of the databases internal to the system and data sources external to the system for updates and identifying second information which affects any of the plurality of subscribers;

determining if any of the first and second information should be communicated to any of the plurality of subscribers, any such information so determined being denoted as determined information;

creating at least one message containing the determined information;

identifying at least one of the plurality of subscribers to which the determined information should be communicated;

retrieving from the subscriber profile, the information related to the preferred channels of communication for the at least one of the plurality of subscribers;

formatting the at least one message for the preferred channels of communication for the at least one of the plurality of subscribers;

encrypting the at least one message;

assigning a time at which the at least one message will become stale;

transmitting the at least one message over the preferred channels of communication for the at least one of the plurality of subscribers;

monitoring for receipt of an acknowledgement of successful transmission of the at least one message over at least one of the preferred channels of communication for the at least one of the plurality of subscribers;

if an acknowledgement is not received in a first predetermined time, retrieving from the subscriber profile the information related to the alternative channels of communication for the at least one of the plurality of subscribers, and transmitting the at least one message over the alternative channels of communication for the at least one of the plurality of subscribers;

monitoring for receipt of a response from the at least one of the plurality of subscribers;

if the response from the at least one of the plurality of subscribers has not been received in a second predetermined period of time, retransmitting the at least one message over at least the preferred channels of communication for the at least one of the plurality of subscribers;

terminating the retransmission step if the at least one message has become stale;

receiving the response from the at least one of the plurality of subscribers; and

authenticating the response from the at least one of the plurality of subscribers.

23. A method comprising:

identifying information related to at least one account of a subscriber;

identifying at least one channel of communication with which to communicate with the subscriber;

creating a message containing the information, the message further containing response information enabling the subscriber to generate and transmit a response;

transmitting the message to the subscriber on the at least one channels of communication;

receiving a response to the message from the subscriber; and

altering the at least one account of the subscriber in response to the response from the subscriber.

24. A system for communicating with a subscriber to the system, the system comprising:

an information identification module identifying update information related to the subscriber;

a subscriber database containing channel information which identifies at least two different channels of communication with which to communicate with the subscriber;

a message generation module coupled to the information identification module and generating a message containing the update information, the message further containing response information enabling the subscriber to generate and transmit a response to the message over at least one of the two channels of communication; and

a communication layer coupled to the message generation module, the communication layer including interfaces to the at least two channels of communication, the communication layer transmitting the message to the subscriber contemporaneously on the at least two different channels of communication.

25. A system as recited in claim 24, wherein there are a plurality of subscribers to the system.

26. A system as recited in claim 24, wherein the message generation module generates a plurality of messages, the system further comprising a prioritization module coupled to the message generation module and establishing a priority of the plurality of messages, and wherein the communication layer transmits the plurality of messages in accordance with the priority established by the prioritization module.

27. A system as recited in claim 24, wherein the communication layer retransmits the message if a response has not been received from the subscriber in a predetermined period of time.

28. A system as recited in claim 24, wherein the communication layer receives an acknowledgement that the message was successfully transmitted over at least one of the at least two channels of communication.

29. A system as recited in claim 24, further comprising and encryption module coupled to the message generation module, the encryption module encrypting the message prior to its transmission by the communication layer.

30. A system as recited in claim 24, further comprising a message formatter coupled to the message generation module, the message formatter formatting the message for each of the at least two channels of communication prior to transmission by the communication layer.

31. A system as recited in claim 24, wherein the update information is time critical.

32. A system as recited in claim 24, further comprising an interface in the communication to at least one alternative channel of communication with which to communicate with the subscriber;

and

wherein the communication layer transmits the message over the at least one alternative channel of communication if a response has not been received from the subscriber in a predetermined period of time.

33. A system as recited in claim 24, further comprising an administration module coupled to the message generation module, the administration module assigning a time at which the message will become stale.

34. A system as recited in claim 33, wherein the communication layer periodically retransmits the message until the message becomes stale or until a response is received from the subscriber.

35. A system as recited in claim 24 wherein communication layer receives a response to the message from the subscriber, the system further comprising a response module coupled to the communication layer and processing the response from the subscriber.

36. A system as recited in claim 35 wherein the update information is related to an account of the subscriber, the system further comprising an alteration module coupled to the response module, the alteration module altering the account of the subscriber in response to the processing of the response by the response module.

37. A system as recited in claim 35, further comprising an authentication module coupled to the message generation module and coupled to the response module, the authentication module authenticating the message generated by the message generation module and authenticating the response processed by the response module.

38. A system as recited in claim 24, further comprising at least one data source, wherein the information identification module is coupled to the at least one data source and monitors the least one data source for the update information.

39. A system as recited in claim 38, wherein the at least one data source is an account information data source at a financial institution.

40. A system as recited in claim 38, further comprising an external database interface, wherein the information identification module is coupled to the external database interface and monitors the external database for the update information.

41. A system for communicating with subscribers comprising:

an information identification module identifying update information related to the subscriber;

a message generation module coupled to the information identification module and generating a message containing the update information;

at least one communication channel;

a communication channel interface coupled to the message generation module and coupled to the at least one communication channel, the communication channel interface transmitting the message to the subscriber on the at least one communication channel and receiving a response from the subscriber on the at least one communication channel; and

a response module coupled to the communication channel interface and correlating the received response to the transmitted message.