Method and system for automatic categorization of financial transaction data based on financial data from similarly situated users

• US 8,060,423 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Chris, Ernst, Barron R., Del Favero, James Robert, Weiss, Benjamin, Hansen, George A., Rukonic, Marko
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung; Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): GREENE, DANIEL LAWSON
• Application Number:
  US12/059,372
• Time in Patent Office: 1,324 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 707/737, 707/950
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/95 Financial

Abstract

Financial data associated with one or more “contributing consumers” is obtained from one or more sources and categorized and associated with a specific expense/income category. One or more attributes associated with the contributing consumers are then identified and used to analyze, aggregate, and categorize the financial data according to the attributes. Data representing a user financial transaction is then obtained for categorization and one or more specific user attributes associated with the user are identified. The user financial transaction is then categorized based, at least in part, on the categorization of similar contributing consumer financial transactions by contributing consumers having at least one of the specific user attributes.

Claims

1. A system for automatic categorization of financial transactions comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having instructions stored therein which when executed by a processor perform a process for automatic categorization of financial transactions comprising;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers, the contributing consumer financial data comprising data representing one or more contributing consumer financial transactions, the contributing consumer financial transactions being categorized according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer;

identifying one or more contributing consumer attributes associated with one or more of the one or more contributing consumers, wherein the one or more contributing consumer attributes are distinct from and thus additional to the one or more contributing consumer financial transactions, wherein the process is operable to consider contributing consumer attributes comprising the contributing consumer'"'"'s occupation/profession, the contributing consumer'"'"'s marital status and number of dependents, whether the contributing consumer is a business owner or an employee, the contributing consumer'"'"'s zip code, the contributing consumer'"'"'s total assets, the size and location of the contributing consumer'"'"'s house, the contributing consumer'"'"'s total liabilities/debt, the contributing consumer'"'"'s net worth, the contributing consumer'"'"'s average discretionary spending, one or more details regarding the contributing consumer'"'"'s spending habits or recurring expenses, the contributing consumer'"'"'s age group, and one or more pieces of demographic data regarding the contributing consumer;

aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based, at least in part, on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data;

obtaining user financial data, the user financial data being associated with a user, the user financial data comprising data representing at least one user financial transaction;

identifying at least one user attribute associated with the user, wherein the at least one user attribute is distinct from and thus additional to the at least one user financial transaction, wherein the process is operable to consider user attributes comprising the user'"'"'s occupation/profession, the user'"'"'s marital status and number of dependents, whether the user is a business owner or an employee, the user'"'"'s zip code, the user'"'"'s total assets, the size and location of the user'"'"'s house, the user'"'"'s total liabilities/debt, the user'"'"'s net worth, the user'"'"'s average discretionary spending, one or more details regarding the user'"'"'s spending habits or recurring expenses, the user'"'"'s age group, and one or more pieces of demographic data regarding the user;

searching the aggregated and/or categorized contributing consumer financial data for contributing consumer financial data and associated categorization data from contributing consumers having at least one contributing consumer attribute that is the at least one user attribute; and

categorizing the at least one user financial transaction based, at least in part, on the categorization of similar contributing consumer financial transactions by contributing consumers having at least one contributing consumer attribute that is the at least one user attribute.

2. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 1, wherein;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers comprises;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from the one or more contributing consumers that is designated by the one or more contributing consumers as sharable contributing consumer financial data.

3. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 1, wherein;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers comprises;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from the one or more contributing consumers from a computing system implemented financial management system.

4. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 3, wherein;

the contributing consumer financial transactions are categorized according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer by the computing system implemented financial management system.

5. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 1, wherein;

aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based, at least in part, on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data comprises aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data and the categorization of the financial transactions made according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer.

6. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 1, wherein;

obtaining user financial data, the user financial data comprising data representing at least one user financial transaction comprises obtaining the user financial data from a computing system implemented financial management system.

7. A computer program product for providing a process for automatic categorization of financial transactions comprising:

a nontransitory computer readable medium;

and computer program code, encoded on the computer readable medium, comprising computer readable instructions for;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers, the contributing consumer financial data comprising data representing one or more contributing consumer financial transactions, the contributing consumer financial transactions being categorized according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer;

identifying one or more contributing consumer attributes associated with one or more of the one or more contributing consumers, wherein the one or more contributing consumer attributes are distinct from and thus additional to the one or more contributing consumer financial transactions, wherein the process is operable to consider contributing consumer attributes comprising the contributing consumer'"'"'s occupation/profession, the contributing consumer'"'"'s marital status and number of dependents, whether the contributing consumer is a business owner or an employee, the contributing consumer'"'"'s zip code, the contributing consumer'"'"'s total assets, the size and location of the contributing consumer'"'"'s house, the contributing consumer'"'"'s total liabilities/debt, the contributing consumer'"'"'s net worth, the contributing consumer'"'"'s average discretionary spending, one or more details regarding the contributing consumer'"'"'s spending habits or recurring expenses, the contributing consumer'"'"'s age group, and one or more pieces of demographic data regarding the contributing consumer;

aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based, at least in part, on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data;

obtaining user financial data, the user financial data being associated with a user, the user financial data comprising data representing at least one user financial transaction;

identifying at least one user attribute associated with the user, wherein the at least one user attribute is distinct from and thus additional to the at least one user financial transaction, wherein the process is operable to consider user attributes comprising the user'"'"'s occupation/profession, the user'"'"'s marital status and number of dependents, whether the user is a business owner or an employee, the user'"'"'s zip code, the user'"'"'s total assets, the size and location of the user'"'"'s house, the user'"'"'s total liabilities/debt, the user'"'"'s net worth, the user'"'"'s average discretionary spending, one or more details regarding the user'"'"'s spending habits or recurring expenses, the user'"'"'s age group, and one or more pieces of demographic data regarding the user;

searching the aggregated and/or categorized contributing consumer financial data for contributing consumer financial data and associated categorization data from contributing consumers having at least one contributing consumer attribute that is the at least one user attribute; and

categorizing the at least one user financial transaction based, at least in part, on the categorization of similar contributing consumer financial transactions by contributing consumers having at least one contributing consumer attribute that is the at least one user attribute.

8. The computer program product for providing a process for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 7, wherein;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers comprises;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from the one or more contributing consumers that is designated by the one or more contributing consumers as sharable contributing consumer financial data.

9. The computer program product for providing a process for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 7, wherein;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers comprises;

obtaining contributing consumer financial data from the one or more contributing consumers from a computing system implemented financial management system.

10. The computer program product for providing a process for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 9, wherein;

the contributing consumer financial transactions are categorized according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer by the computing system implemented financial management system.

11. The computer program product for providing a process for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 7, wherein;

aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based, at least in part, on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data comprises aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data and the categorization of the financial transactions made according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer.

12. The computer program product for providing a process for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 7, wherein;

obtaining user financial data, the user financial data comprising data representing at least one user financial transaction comprises obtaining the user financial data from a computing system implemented financial management system.

13. A system for automatic categorization of financial transactions comprising:

means for obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers, the contributing consumer financial data comprising data representing one or more contributing consumer financial transactions, the contributing consumer financial transactions being categorized according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer;

means for identifying one or more contributing consumer attributes associated with one or more of the one or more contributing consumers, wherein the one or more contributing consumer attributes are distinct from and thus additional to the one or more contributing consumer financial transactions, wherein the system is operable to consider contributing consumer attributes comprising the contributing consumer'"'"'s occupation/profession, the contributing consumer'"'"'s marital status and number of dependents, whether the contributing consumer is a business owner or an employee, the contributing consumer'"'"'s zip code, the contributing consumer'"'"'s total assets, the size and location of the contributing consumer'"'"'s house, the contributing consumer'"'"'s total liabilities/debt, the contributing consumer'"'"'s net worth, the contributing consumer'"'"'s average discretionary spending, one or more details regarding the contributing consumer'"'"'s spending habits or recurring expenses, the contributing consumer'"'"'s age group, and one or more pieces of demographic data regarding the contributing consumer;

means for aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based, at least in part, on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data;

means for obtaining user financial data, the user financial data being associated with a user, the user financial data comprising data representing at least one user financial transaction;

means for identifying at least one user attribute associated with the user, wherein the at least one user attribute is distinct from and thus additional to the at least one user financial transaction, wherein the system is operable to consider user attributes comprising the user'"'"'s occupation/profession, the user'"'"'s marital status and number of dependents, whether the user is a business owner or an employee, the user'"'"'s zip code, the user'"'"'s total assets, the size and location of the user'"'"'s house, the user'"'"'s total liabilities/debt, the user'"'"'s net worth, the user'"'"'s average discretionary spending, one or more details regarding the user'"'"'s spending habits or recurring expenses, the user'"'"'s age group, and one or more pieces of demographic data regarding the user;

means for searching the aggregated and/or categorized contributing consumer financial data for contributing consumer financial data and associated categorization data from contributing consumers having at least one contributing consumer attribute that is the at least one user attribute; and

means for categorizing the at least one user financial transaction based, at least in part, on the categorization of similar contributing consumer financial transactions by contributing consumers having at least one contributing consumer attribute that is the at least one user attribute.

14. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 13, wherein;

the means for obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers comprises;

means for obtaining contributing consumer financial data from the one or more contributing consumers that is designated by the one or more contributing consumers as sharable contributing consumer financial data.

15. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 13, wherein;

the means for obtaining contributing consumer financial data from one or more contributing consumers comprises;

means for obtaining contributing consumer financial data from the one or more contributing consumers from a computing system implemented financial management system.

16. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 15, wherein;

the contributing consumer financial transactions are categorized according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer by the computing system implemented financial management system.

17. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 13, wherein;

the means for aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based, at least in part, on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data comprises means for aggregating and categorizing the contributing consumer financial data based on the one or more contributing consumer attributes of the one or more of the one or more contributing consumers associated with the contributing consumer financial data and the categorization of the financial transactions made according to the desires of the associated contributing consumer.

18. The system for automatic categorization of financial transactions of claim 13, wherein;

the means for obtaining user financial data, the user financial data comprising data representing at least one user financial transaction comprises means for obtaining the user financial data from a computing system implemented financial management system.