Method for managing group finances via an electronic network

• US 8,364,566 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Olliphant, Hugo
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nga B.
• Application Number:
  US12/025,223
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195510A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,821 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/36, 705/37, 705/38, 705/39, 705/40
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of managing group finances via an electronic network. Transaction details are received from a member of group via an electronic network. The transaction details preferably include a shared expense containing an expense amount and at least one group member responsible for the expense. The transaction details are then assigned to the group and a payment specified-by the-transaction-details is allocated-among-group members-of-the-group. The method is repeated for a plurality of transactions. The finances of the group may also be balanced using accounting mathematics. Furthermore, an original expense value may be rounded up to a new expense value having a predefined number of decimal places, and a difference distributed between the new expense value and the original expense value to a third party.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions which when executed by a processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

establishing a group fund corresponding to a shared expense of a group that includes a plurality of group members;

receiving transaction details via an electronic network, the transaction details describing the shared expense and identifying at least one of the plurality of group members responsible for the shared expense;

assigning the transaction details to the group; and

allocating the shared expense specified by the transaction details among the plurality of group members of the group.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising balancing finances of the group.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the balancing includes:

rounding up an original expense value of the shared expense to a new expense value having a predefined number of decimal places; and

distributing a difference between the new expense value and the original expense value to a third party.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises acquiring transaction details which include remuneration details from a group member.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises acquiring allocation details dividing financial obligations of the group among said the plurality of group members.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the allocating includes:

debiting the group fund with the shared expense specified in the transaction details; and

allotting the expense among said the plurality group members in a manner specified in the transaction details.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the allocating includes:

crediting the group fund with remuneration specified in the transaction details; and

allotting the remuneration among the group members in a manner specified in the transaction details.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising charging a group member interest for paying the group fund late.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising determining that a group member has made an early payment and paying the group member interest on an amount of the payment until the payment is due.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising determining that one group member is delinquent in paying a share of a shared expense and removing the one group member from the group.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a server controlled by a financial institution, the server comprising, a memory; and

a data processor to execute instructions, the execution of the instructions is to cause receipt of transaction details via an electronic network, the transaction details describing a group expense and identifying at least one of the plurality of group members as being responsible for the group expense,

the execution of the instructions is to further cause allocation of the group expense specified by the transaction details among one or more of the plurality of group members of the group, and is to cause storage of the transaction details and the allocation of the group expense in the memory.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the execution of the instructions by the data processor is to cause a balancing of finances of the group.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the receipt of the transaction details comprises execution of instructions to cause acquisition of remuneration details from a group member.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the receipt of the transaction details comprises execution of instructions to cause acquisition of allocation details dividing financial obligations of the group among the group members.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the data processor is to execute instructions to cause a charge of interest to a group member for paying a group fund late.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the data processor is to execute instructions to cause a determination that a group member has made an early payment and to cause payment of interest to the group member on an amount of the payment until the payment is due.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

establishing, using a processor, a group fund corresponding to a shared expense of a group that includes a plurality of group members;

receiving a request from a current group member of the plurality of group members to add a new group member to the plurality of group members;

transmitting the request to the new group member;

adding, based on input from the new group member, the new group member to the plurality of group members; and

allocating the shared expense among the plurality of group members that includes the new group member.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising balancing finances of the group.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the balancing includes:

rounding up an original expense value to a new expense value having a predefined number of decimal places; and

distributing a difference between the new expense value and the original expense value to a third party.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising receiving transaction details from a group member via an electronic network, the transaction details identifying the shared expense and at least one of the plurality of group members responsible for the shared expense, wherein the allocating of the shared expense is based on the transaction details.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the allocating includes debiting the group fund with the shared expense.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising charging a group member interest for paying the group fund late.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising determining that a group member has made an early payment and paying the group member interest on the amount of the payment until the payment is due.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further comprising determining that one group member is delinquent in paying a share of a group expense and removing the one group member from the group.

25. A computer-implemented method comprising:

establishing, using a processor, a group fund of a group that includes a plurality of group members;

deleting a group member of the plurality of group members; and

allocating funds in the group fund assigned to the group member being deleted among remaining group members of the plurality of group members.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising allocating a shared expense among remaining group members.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, further comprising receiving transaction details via an electronic network, the transaction details identifying the shared expense and at least one of the plurality of group members responsible for the shared expense.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein the allocating includes:

debiting the group fund with the shared expense specified in the transaction details; and

allotting the shared expense among the remaining group members in a manner specified in the transaction details.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising charging a group member interest for paying the group fund late.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising determining that a group member has made an early payment and paying the group member interest on the amount of the payment until the payment is due.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising determining that one group member is delinquent in paying his share of a group expense and removing the one group member from the group.

32. A computer-implemented method comprising:

establishing, using a processor, a group fund for payment of a shared expense of a group that includes a plurality of group members;

assigning a transaction to the group fund, the transaction being associated with the shared expense; and

modifying the transaction based on input from a group member of the plurality of group members.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, including allocating the shared expense of the modified transaction among the plurality of group members.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, including deleting the transaction or a different transaction based on input from a group member of the plurality of group members.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, including balancing finances of the group.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 35, wherein the balancing includes:

rounding up an original expense value to a new expense value; and

distributing a difference between the new expense value and the original expense value to a third party.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein the receiving comprises acquiring allocation details dividing financial obligations of the group among the plurality of group members.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, including settling the group fund through an electronic network.

39. The computer-implemented method of claim 38, wherein the settling comprises transferring funds from the group fund to a financial institution account of a specific group member.

40. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising charging a specific group member interest for paying the group fund late.

41. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising determining that a group member has made an early payment and paying the group member interest on the amount of the payment until the payment is due.

42. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising determining that one group member is delinquent in paying their share of a group expense and removing the one group member from the group.

43. A computer-implemented method comprising:

establishing, using a processor, a group fund for a group that includes a plurality of group members;

receiving a transaction to remunerate one or more group members, the transaction being to credit the group fund;

assigning the transaction to the group; and

allocating the credit specified by the transaction among the one or more group members to be remunerated.

44. The computer-implemented method of claim 43, including deleting the transaction or a different transaction based on input from a group member of the plurality of group members.

45. The computer-implemented method of claim 43, including balancing finances of the group.

46. The computer-implemented method of claim 45, wherein the balancing includes:

rounding up an original expense value to a new expense value; and

distributing a difference between the new expense value and the original expense value to a third party.

47. The computer-implemented method of claim 43, wherein the receiving comprises acquiring allocation details dividing financial obligations of the group among the plurality of group members.

48. The computer-implemented method of claim 43, further comprising settling the group fund through an electronic network, wherein the settling comprises transferring funds from the group fund to a financial institution account of a group member.