Delivery of financial services to remote devices

• US 7,249,344 B1
• Filed: 06/01/1999
• Issued: 07/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Citicorp Credit Services Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Citicorp Development Center Incorporated (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Inventors: Moss, Leslie, Markarian, Grigor, Grandcolas, Michael, Cohen, Albert, Cook, James, Lan, Sikhun, Abbott, Charles, Boyd, Nik, Lindsley, Bonnie, Zeanah, James
• Primary Examiner(s): INGBERG, TODD D
• Application Number:
  US09/323,210
• Time in Patent Office: 2,975 Days
• Field of Search: 717/1, 717/100, 717/102, 717/108, 717/117, 717/118
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3227 using secure elements embedded in M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3552 Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/206 Software aspects at ATMs

Abstract

A financial institution can provide financial services to a plurality of remote devices, such as personal computers, personal data assistants, screen phones, automatic teller machines, external service providers, and internally to staff terminals and individual branches. 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 reducing the development and maintenance cycle time. The system and method operate in sessions and can 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.

Claims

1. A system tangibly embodied on at least one computer readable medium for delivering services from a host site to a remote device, comprising:

a mini-app dialog component for receiving a request for a service function from the remote device; and

a transaction executor component instantiated by the mini-app dialog component to perform the requested service function;

wherein business rules are procured in reply to requests from the mini-app dialog component and the transaction executor component; and

wherein the delivered services are displayed on the remote device.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the service function is requested from a user at the remote device.

3. The system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the user includes a service provider external to the host site.

4. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the mini-app dialog component also collects information from the remote device.

5. The system as set forth in claim 4, further comprising a presentation manager component for mapping the information from the remote device into a canonical representation of the information.

6. The system as set forth in claim 4, wherein the information from the remote device is collected by the mini-app dialog component as a canonical representation of the information.

7. The system as set forth in claim 5, wherein the information from the remote device is in a format designated for the remote device.

8. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device comprises a computer.

9. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device comprises a telephone.

10. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the remote device comprises a display device.

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

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

13. A method for delivering services from a host site to one or more users through one or more remote devices, comprising:

receiving a first request for a service function from a first user through a first remote device, wherein the first request for a service function is in a first format designated for a first remote device;

converting the first request for a service function from the first format into a canonical format;

performing the first requested service function based on the canonical format of the first request for a service function;

registering a rule authority for each request and for directing requests for a service function to the appropriate rule authority; and

displaying the delivered services on the first remote device.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13, further comprising:

outputting a welcome page to the first user through the first remote device; and

collecting the first user'"'"'s identity and preference information.

15. The method as set forth in claim 13, further comprising:

generating a first response relating to the first performed service function;

formatting the first response in the first format designated for the first remote device; and

sending the first formatted response to the first user through the first remote device.

16. The method as set forth in claim 13, further comprising:

instantiating a mini-app dialog component.

17. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein performing the first requested service function comprises:

collecting sufficient information from the first user; and

instantiating a transaction executor component to perform the first requested service function.

18. The method as set forth in claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a second request for a service function from a second user through a second remote device, wherein the second request for a service function is in a second format designated for a second remote device;

converting the second request for a service function from the second format into the canonical format;

performing the second requested service function based on the canonical format of the second request for a service function.

19. The method as set forth in claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a second request for a service function from a second user through the first remote device;

performing the second requested service function.

20. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein the remote device comprises a display device.

21. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein the one or more users include a service provider external to the host site.

22. A system tangibly embodied on at least one computer readable medium for delivering services to a user through a remote device, comprising:

a presentation manager for receiving a request for a service function from the user through the remote device and for converting the request into a canonical format; and

a transaction executor component for performing the requested service function based on the canonical format;

wherein business rules are procured in reply to requests from the transaction executor component; and

wherein the delivered services are displayed on the remote device.

23. The system as set forth in claim 22, further comprising a welcome mat for collecting user identity and preference information.

24. The system as set forth in claim 23, further comprising a mini-app dialog component for collecting information relating to the requested service function from the user through the remote device and for instantiating the transaction executor component.

25. The system as set forth in claim 24, further comprising a navigation shell instantiated by the welcome mat for receiving the requested service function from the presentation manager and for instantiating the mini-app dialog component.

26. The system as set forth in claim 23, further comprising a customer services set for providing a profile of the user based at least on the collected user identity.

27. The system as set forth in claim 26, wherein the customer services set comprises a customer identification (ID) component which contains information relating the user identity.

28. The system as set forth in claim 26, wherein the customer services set comprises a customer relationship component which contains information identifying a transactional relationship between the user and a host institution that provides the services to the user via the system.

29. The system as set forth in claim 26, wherein the customer services set comprises an issuer component which contains information about a host institution that uses the system to provide services to users.

30. The system as set forth in claim 26, wherein the customer services set comprises an acquirer component which contains information about an acquiring business for a session.

31. The system as set forth in claim 26, wherein the customer services set comprises an account component which contains information about one or more accounts of the user.

32. The system as set forth in claim 23, further comprising a navigation shell for informing the user of available service functions based on the collected user identity and preference information.

33. The system as set forth in claim 22, further comprising a session controller component for receiving an initial contact from the user through the remote device and for instantiating a session component for a session bubble associated with the user.

34. The system as set forth in claim 33, wherein the transaction executor component is associated with the session bubble.

35. The system as set forth in claim 34, wherein the session controller component is also for receiving an initial contact from another user through the remote device and for instantiating another session component for another session bubble associated with the another user.

36. The system as set forth in claim 35, further comprising another transaction executor component associated with the another session bubble.

37. The system as set forth in claim 36, further comprising a mini-app dialog component associated with each of the session bubbles for collecting information from the user of the respective session bubble and for instantiating the transaction executor component associated with the respective session bubble.

38. The system as set forth in claim 37, further comprising an interface component for interfacing with the users for the session bubbles and for routing the information from each user to the mini-app dialog component associated with the respective session bubble.

39. The system as set forth in claim 36, further comprising a back door man component for coordinating messages between the transaction executor components in the session bubbles and a single external service provider.

40. The system as set forth in claim 33, wherein the session component instantiates a welcome mat component for collecting the user'"'"'s identity and preference information.

41. The system as set forth in claim 33, wherein the session controller component is also for receiving an initial contact from another user through the remote device and for instantiating another session component for another session bubble associated with the another user.

42. The system as set forth in claim 41, further comprising a system services set for providing common services to the session bubbles.

43. The system as set forth in claim 22, wherein the remote device comprises a display device.

44. The system as set forth in claim 22, wherein the user includes a customer of a host institution that uses the system to deliver services.

45. The system as set forth in claim 22, wherein the user includes an employee of a host institution that uses the system to deliver services.

46. The system as set forth in claim 22, wherein the user includes a service provider external to the system.

47. A system tangibly embodied on at least one computer readable medium for delivering services from a host site to a remote device, comprising:

a mini-app dialog component that receives a request for a service function from the remote device;

a transaction executor component instantiated by the mini-app dialog component to perform the requested service function; and

a rule broker component that selectively procures business rules from various sources in reply to rule queries from the mini-app dialog component and the transaction executor component;

wherein the delivered services are displayed on the remote device.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the business rules are grouped in geographic region specific sets.

49. A method for delivering services from a host site to one or more users through one or more remote devices, comprising:

receiving a first request for a service function from a first user through a first remote device, wherein the first request for a service function is in a first format designated for a first remote device;

converting the first request for a service function from the first format into a canonical format;

performing the first requested service function based on the canonical format of the first request for a service function, wherein performing the first requested service function includes applying a rule broker component to selectively procure business rules grouped in geographic region specific sets from various sources in reply to rule queries; and

displaying the delivered services on the first remote device.

50. A system tangibly embodied on at least one computer readable medium for delivering services to a user through a remote device, comprising:

a presentation manager that receives a request for a service function from the user through the remote device and for converting the request into a canonical format;

a transaction executor component that performs the requested service function based on the canonical format;

a rule broker component that selectively procures and transmits business rules from various sources in reply to rule queries from the transaction executor component and the presentation manager component;

wherein the delivered services are displayed on the remote device.