Personal digital assistant based financial transaction method and system

• US 6,305,603 B1
• Filed: 01/29/1999
• Issued: 10/23/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grunbok, Warren William Jr., Martino, Gilford Francis
• Primary Examiner(s): Pitts, Harold I.
• Application Number:
  US09/239,691
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/492, 380/24, 395/892
• US Class Current: 235/379
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A personal digital assistant (PDA) based financial transaction method and system. The invention allows for convenient access to financial account(s) from a store and allows for financial transactions and immediate account updates via a PDA.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

identifying a product to be purchased;

accessing at least two financial accounts, each of the accounts having at least one of funds and credit for the purchase of the product, at at least one financial institution using a personal digital assistant;

performing at least one financial transaction during accessing using the personal digital assistant; and

transmitting from each financial institution to the personal digital assistant updated information regarding each financial account.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

entering into a store computer a price that a buyer will pay to purchase the product;

automatically providing to the buyer a receipt for the payment of the Price, said providing of the receipt being performed after the at least one financial transaction has been completed and being not performed by a human; and

releasing the product to the buyer if the buyer presents such receipt upon removal of the product from the store.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing includes transmitting an account access approval indication to the at least one financial institution for each account from the personal digital assistant.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing includes accessing a store financial account at a store financial institution.

5. The method of claim 4, further including transmitting an account access approval indication to the financial institution for the store financial account.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the updated information for each account on the personal digital assistant.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing includes the personal digital assistant communicating with the financial institution via a store computer system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of transmitting includes transmitting the updated information to the personal digital assistant via the store computer system.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of entering a transaction amount into one of the personal digital assistant and the store computer system, wherein the transaction amount includes the price the buyer will pay for the product.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of entering the price includes scanning a bar code.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying includes scanning the product'"'"'s bar code.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of accessing includes transmitting from the financial Institution to the personal digital assistant at least one of, current account balances account transaction history and information for updating a database of the personal digital.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing a financial transaction includes transferring a transaction amount to a store account.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of entering the price includes scanning the product'"'"'s bar code.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the receipt provided to the buyer is an encrypted receipt.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing a financial account requires at least one transaction approval indication from the personal digital assistant.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the receipt provided to the buyer is an electronic receipt displayed on the PDA for presentation to a store representative upon the buyer'"'"'s departure from the store.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the receipt provided to the buyer is a printed receipt for presentation to a store representative upon the buyer'"'"'s departure from the store.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the receipt provided to the buyer is an encrypted receipt for presentation at a product pick up area of the store.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the printed receipt is printed at a kiosk within the store.

17. A financial transaction system comprising:

a hand held microcomputer electronically communicative with a store computer, the store computer being electronically communicative with at least one financial institution computer;

means for executing at least two simultaneous electronic financial transactions between at least two financial accounts of the user of the hand held microcomputer at the at least one financial institution and a store account, and for immediately providing the hand held microcomputer with updated account information after the electronic financial transactions have been completed for each account.

18. A system for performing a financial transaction at a store, the system comprising:

a) a store computer communicative with a store financial institution computer and a hand held computer user financial institution computer; and

b) a hand held computer having;

i) means for communicating with the store computer;

ii) means for initiating a financial transaction between the hand held computer user financial institution and the store financial institution computer via the store computer; and

iii) means for receiving financial transaction and account details from the hand held computer user financial institution computer via the store computer;

means for automatically providing to the user an encrypted receipt recording the financial transaction and for presentation by the user upon removal of a product from the store.

19. A store computer system for performing a financial transaction at a store with a hand held computer, the system comprising:

means for communicating with a financial institution of the store and with at least one financial institution of the hand held computer user;

means for communicating with, and for performing at least two approximately simultaneous electronic financial transactions between at least two financial accounts of the user of the hand held computer at the at least one financial institution and a store account based on input from, the hand held computer; and

means for transmitting financial transaction and updated financial account information from the financial institution of the hand held computer user to the hand held computer.

20. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method steps for executing a financial transactions between computer systems, the method steps comprising:

a) accessing at least two financial accounts of a user of a personal digital assistant and a store account at at least one financial institution using the personal digital assistant;

b) performing at least one financial transaction during accessing using the personal digital assistant; and

c) transmitting from each financial institution to the personal digital assistant updated information regarding each financial account.