System and method for facilitating programmatic verification of transactions

• US 9,595,023 B1
• Filed: 07/02/2015
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Plaid Inc.
• Original Assignee: Plaid Technologies Incorporated (Plaid Inc.)
• Inventors: Hockey, William, Perret, Zach, Li, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Vyas, Abhishek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Liz P
• Application Number:
  US14/790,897
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions

Abstract

Systems and methods for programmatic access of a financial institution system. A normalized API request provided by an application system specifies user information corresponding to at least one account endpoint of an external financial institution system. Responsive to the request, at least one application proxy instance associated with the normalized API request is used to collect transaction information from a corresponding financial institution system by providing the financial institution system with a proprietary API request that specifies at least account credentials associated with the user information. The transaction information is included in at least one proprietary API response provided by the financial institution system. A normalized API response is generated based on the collected transaction information and provided to the application system. Each application proxy instance is constructed to simulate an application of the corresponding financial institution system on behalf of a user associated with the application proxy instance.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

one or more computer readable storage devices configured to store a plurality of computer executable instructions; and

one or more hardware computer processors in communication with the one or more computer readable storage devices and configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to cause the computer system to;

execute an Application Programming Interface (API) of the computer system, the API of the computer system configured to receive and provide responses to requests from a developer computing device according to a normalized format of the API of the computer system;

receive, via the API and according to the normalized format, a request from the developer computing device for transaction data associated with a user, the request including at least;

a username associated with the user,

a password associated with the user, and

an external institution identifier;

determine, based on the external institution identifier, an external institution associated with the request;

in response to the request, instantiate a virtualized instance of a mobile device application associated with the external institution, wherein;

the virtualized instance of the mobile device application is uniquely configured to interface with an external computing device of the external institution via a non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution,

the non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution is configured to interact with the mobile device application, and

the virtualized instance of the mobile device application is generated based on an analysis of an actual instance of a mobile device application associated with the external institution and interactions between the actual instance of the mobile device application and the external computing device of the external institution;

authenticate the virtualized instance of the mobile device application with the external computing device of the external institution based on at least one of;

an mobile device identifier code,

an mobile device authentication token, or

a mobile device Media Access Control (MAC) address;

request, by the virtualized instance of the mobile device application and via the non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution, the transaction data associated with the user from the external computing device of the external institution by;

providing the username associated with the user and the password associated with the user to the external computing device of the external institution;

requesting the transaction data from the external computing device of the external institution; and

receiving the transaction data associated with the user from the external computing device of the external institution;

provide, via the API of the computer system and in the normalized format, the transaction data to the developer computing device; and

persist, in the one or more computer readable storage devices of the computer system, the virtualized instance of the mobile device application such that future requests for transaction data associated with the user may be obtained via the virtualized instance of the mobile device application.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the non-public API is a private API of the external computing device of the external institution, and wherein the non-public API is different from a web browser interface.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the virtualized instance of the mobile device application is further generated based on at least one of:

parsing source code of the actual instance of the mobile device application, or parsing communication between the actual instance of the mobile device application and the external computing device of the external institution.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the virtualized instance of the mobile device application defines headers of messages sent to the external computing device of the external institution, and wherein the non-public API is different from a web browser interface.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware computer processors are configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to further cause the computer system to:

further request, by the virtualized instance of the mobile device application and via the non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution, the transaction data associated with the user from the external computing device of the external institution by;

receiving a request for second factor authentication information from the external computing device of the external institution;

requesting, via the API of the computer system, the second factor authentication information from the developer computing device;

receiving, via the API of the computer system, the second factor authentication information from the developer computing device;

providing the second factor authentication information to the external computing device of the external institution; and

receiving, from the external computing device of the external institution, a response indicating acceptance of the second factor authentication information.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware computer processors are configured to execute the plurality of computer executable instructions in order to further cause the computer system to:

enhance the transaction data associated with the user by;

augmenting, based on an analysis of the transaction data, a plurality of transaction data items of the transaction data with respective category labels;

augmenting, based on a further analysis of the transaction data, the plurality of transaction data items of the transaction data with respective geolocation information; and

standardizing a format of the transaction data such that the transaction data may be provided by the computer system in the normalized format.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

by a computer system having one or more hardware computer processors executing a plurality of computer executable instructions;

executing an Application Programming Interface (API) of the computer system, the API of the computer system configured to receive and provide responses to requests from a developer computing device according to a normalized format of the API of the computer system;

receiving, via the API and according to the normalized format, a request from the developer computing device for transaction data associated with a user, the request including at least;

a username associated with the user,

a password associated with the user, and

an external institution identifier;

determining, based on the external institution identifier, an external institution associated with the request;

in response to the request, instantiating a virtualized instance of a mobile device application associated with the external institution, wherein;

the virtualized instance of the mobile device application is uniquely configured to interface with an external computing device of the external institution via a non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution,

the non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution is configured to interact with the mobile device application, and

the virtualized instance of the mobile device application is generated based on an analysis of an actual instance of a mobile device application associated with the external institution and interactions between the actual instance of the mobile device application and the external computing device of the external institution;

authenticating the virtualized instance of the mobile device application with the external computing device of the external institution based on at least one of;

an mobile device identifier code,

an mobile device authentication token, or

a mobile device Media Access Control (MAC) address;

requesting, by the virtualized instance of the mobile device application and via the non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution, the transaction data associated with the user from the external computing device of the external institution by;

providing the username associated with the user and the password associated with the user to the external computing device of the external institution;

requesting the transaction data from the external computing device of the external institution; and

receiving the transaction data associated with the user from the external computing device of the external institution;

providing, via the API of the computer system and in the normalized format, the transaction data to the developer computing device; and

persisting, in one or more computer readable storage devices of the computer system, the virtualized instance of the mobile device application such that future requests for transaction data associated with the user may be obtained via the virtualized instance of the mobile device application.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:

by the one or more hardware computer processors executing the plurality of computer executable instructions;

in response to receiving a request for second factor authentication information from the external computing device of the external institution;

providing the second factor authentication information to the external computing device of the external institution; and

receiving, from the external computing device of the external institution, a response indicating acceptance of the second factor authentication information.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:

by the one or more hardware computer processors executing the plurality of computer executable instructions;

enhancing the transaction data associated with the user by;

augmenting, based on an analysis of the transaction data, a plurality of transaction data items of the transaction data with respective category labels;

augmenting, based on a further analysis of the transaction data, the plurality of transaction data items of the transaction data with respective geolocation information; and

standardizing a format of the transaction data such that the transaction data may be provided by the computer system in the normalized format.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software instructions that, in response to execution by one or more hardware computer processors of a computer system, configure the one or more hardware computer processors to perform operations comprising:

executing an Application Programming Interface (API) of the computer system, the API of the computer system configured to receive and provide responses to requests from a developer computing device according to a normalized format of the API of the computer system;

receiving, via the API and according to the normalized format, a request from the developer computing device for transaction data associated with a user, the request including at least;

a username associated with the user,

a password associated with the user, and

an external institution identifier;

determining, based on the external institution identifier, an external institution associated with the request;

in response to the request, instantiating a virtualized instance of a mobile device application associated with the external institution, wherein;

the virtualized instance of the mobile device application is uniquely configured to interface with an external computing device of the external institution via a non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution,

the non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution is configured to interact with the mobile device application, and

the virtualized instance of the mobile device application is generated based on an analysis of an actual instance of a mobile device application associated with the external institution and interactions between the actual instance of the mobile device application and the external computing device of the external institution;

authenticating the virtualized instance of the mobile device application with the external computing device of the external institution based on at least one of;

an mobile device identifier code,

an mobile device authentication token, or

a mobile device Media Access Control (MAC) address;

requesting, by the virtualized instance of the mobile device application and via the non-public API of the external computing device of the external institution, the transaction data associated with the user from the external computing device of the external institution by;

providing the username associated with the user and the password associated with the user to the external computing device of the external institution;

requesting the transaction data from the external computing device of the external institution; and

receiving the transaction data associated with the user from the external computing device of the external institution;

providing, via the API of the computer system and in the normalized format, the transaction data to the developer computing device; and

persisting, in the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the computer system, the virtualized instance of the mobile device application such that future requests for transaction data associated with the user may be obtained via the virtualized instance of the mobile device application.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein further in response to execution by one or more hardware computer processors, the software instructions configure the one or more hardware computer processors to perform operations comprising:

in response to receiving a request for second factor authentication information from the external computing device of the external institution;

providing the second factor authentication information to the external computing device of the external institution; and

receiving, from the external computing device of the external institution, a response indicating acceptance of the second factor authentication information.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein further in response to execution by one or more hardware computer processors, the software instructions configure the one or more hardware computer processors to perform operations comprising:

enhancing the transaction data associated with the user by;

augmenting, based on an analysis of the transaction data, a plurality of transaction data items of the transaction data with respective category labels;

augmenting, based on a further analysis of the transaction data, the plurality of transaction data items of the transaction data with respective geolocation information; and

standardizing a format of the transaction data such that the transaction data may be provided by the computer system in the normalized format.