Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TRANSACTION EXECUTION SYSTEM AND METHOD
WITH USER PROXY AND MIDDLEWARE
The present invention relates to transaction execution systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Automated Transaction Execution Systems. Generally
Banks and similar financial institutions have used automated teller machines,
otherwise known as ATMs, for many years as transaction execution machines.
Initially, each
traditional institution installed its own ATMs ("captive ATMs") at bank
branches and later at
other locations. These captive ATMs initially varied in level of
functionality, but over time
evolved to provide more services at lower costs, greater convenience, and
greater access to
the customers. The services typically offered by captive ATMs include cash
withdrawals,
limited transfers between some customer accounts, the ability to deposit items
of value such
as cash or cheques, and checking of account balances in accordance to the
generating
parameters of a single financial institution. One disadvantage of this ATM
system is that
each institution has only a limited number of physical ATM locations with
which to service a
broad customer base. Another is the limited transaction set available.
Institutions have also begun to use captive ATMs to obtain data on customer
habits,
and to customize the behavior or options offered by a captive ATM based on how
the
institution wishes to treat a selected customer group or specific customer. A
key to offering
these value-added and/or differentiating services has been the ability of the
traditional
financial institutional to control the behavior of the captive ATMs used by
its customers. The
control is typically accomplished by the financial institution owning and/or
operating, and
defining many or all aspects of the logic, presentation, communications,
performance,
appearance, electronic transactions, paper transactions, cash type,
denominations, and many
other aspects of the captive ATM operation. The disadvantage of this system is
the limited
coverage of a customer base, dependent on the number and location of the ATMs,
with the
associated costs of establishing and maintaining a network of captive ATMs.
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Transactions on "Foreign" Machines
As ATM usage grew, certain traditional institutions saw advantages in
providing their
customers with access to additional ATMs not owned by themselves. Regional or
national
consortia were created amongst cooperating traditional institutions, as well
as amongst
independent providers, to provide user access to each other's ATMs by their
respective
customers. Because of the need for technical simplicity and compatibility,
these cooperative
ventures tended to be based on the lowest common denominator of ATM
capability, typically
cash withdrawal from one or a limited number of generically defined account
types, typically
"savings" and "chequing". Additional features included balance inquiry and/or
inter-account
transfers for similar generically defined accounts. Examples of these
consortia are "Interac",
"Visa Plus Network", "MasterCard Cirrus Network", and "Star/Honor" systems.
These
particular networks were primarily interested in the basic functionality of
cash withdrawal in
local currency, by using internationally recognized credit or bank cards in a
large number of
locations. Unfortunately, the full complement of transactions ordinarily
provided by captive
ATMs are not typically accessible by customers using ATMs not owned by a
customer's
institution. Another disadvantage of the consortium branch system is that ATMs
are always
driven by one "host" institution, by which the transactions provided to
customers of other
"guest" institutions are controlled. Accordingly, this ownership model may not
give "guest"
institutions adequate control on how the captive ATMs provide services to
their customers.
"White Label" Suppliers
As the usage of ATMs grew and the networks used to exchange ATM transaction
information between traditional institutions became more widely accessible, so
an
opportunity arose for ATMs not owned by any single financial institution,
commonly known
in the industry as "White Label" ATMs. White Label ATMs were attractive to
retail
merchants and similar enterprises, because customers able to withdraw cash on
a merchant's
premises would be more likely to enter the premises and or spend more money
while on the
premises if a cash withdrawal were made or available. One disadvantage is that
these White
Label ATMs have only a limited functionality, even as compared to captive ATMs
controlled
by single institutions.
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Presently in the art, there is a proliferation of limited service ATMs. Full
service is
only available from captive ATMs, controlled by the traditional institution
issuing the access
means such as a transaction card. These "full services" do not access more
than the
Customer's home institution's transaction functionality. Very limited services
at White Label
ATMs are available at a very large number of other locations by means of the
many
interconnected financial transaction networks.
"Virtual Banking"
While the importance and numbers of both full service or captive ATMs, ATM
consortia, and White Label ATMs have been growing, the importance and
desirability of
traditional bricks-and-mortar bank branches has been declining. New "virtual"
banks have
been created that are based on a very limited traditional branch network,
sometimes with no
physical branch network at all. These virtual banks typically use the
Internet, a telephone call
1 S center, and/or a telephone interactive voice response system to conduct
transactions with their
customers. However, for any transaction requiring physical interaction between
the virtual
banks and their customers, such as the withdrawal of cash, the virtual banks
have had to rely
on the general ATM network. The access of virtual institutions to the
established ATM
network is through the lowest common denominator functionality, which is owned
by
traditional institution competitors, or by White Label ATM providers and/or
operators. These
virtual banks would like to position themselves as leaders in technology,
convenience, and
low cost transactions, but existing access to current networks' ATM is
restricted in terms of
the transaction types permitted to customers of "foreign" institutions. These
available
transaction types are typically fixed by the operator of the network by which
the ATM is
controlled. Furthermore, there is very little in the way of providing these
virtual banks with
any control over the interface during their customers' interaction with
existing systems. The
virtual banks have to rely on the visual presentation and transaction
capabilities provided by a
general ATM network or a captive ATM's controlling institution.
For additional transaction types, such as the issuance of a certified cheque,
or the
deposit of funds via cheque or other negotiable paper instruments, the virtual
institution is
typically restricted to using the post mail system, or using the premises or
facilities of another
more traditional bank. Examples of this practice are PC Financial offering
additional
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transaction types through CIBC terminals, and MBanx making similar
arrangements
available through the terminals of the Bank of Montreal. This procedure can be
costly,
cumbersome, and slow compared to the service level such virtual banks wish to
provide, and
which their customers expect. These virtual banks are able to control the
remote interface
and interaction with their customers when dealing with the customers by
telephone or by the
Internet, but must subject their customers to the image and advertising of
competing
traditional institutions when their customers use the ATMs controlled by a
single traditional
institution. When their customers use White Label ATMs, those customers are
typically
provided with less functionality, such as cash withdrawal, and with no
opportunity available
to those institutions to control presentation of the transaction with those
customers.
"Web-based" Remote Bankin
In the recent past, traditional financial institutions have begun to offer
remote banking
1 S services to customers, both individual and corporate, by
telecommunications means. In
particular, a limited variety of information and transaction sets may be
accessed by computer
via web browser. Such transactions cannot, of course, include the physical
delivery (in either
direction) of items of value such as cheques or money, and typically include
such transactions
as:
-account queries (balances, recent and historical transaction statements)
-inter-account transfers
-loan application, processing, authorization and funding (to specific user
accounts)
-loan and bill payment
Financial institutions have used computer communications for many years to
connect
with their retail customers, both individuals and businesses and are now
providing these and
more added services to a broader number of their customers via added web-based
channels.
While some have suggested that the importance of the ATM channel may decline
with the
increasing prevalence of other channels (including banking via devices such as
Internet
banking, graphically through wireless PDAs, and by voice or graphically
through cell
phones) financial institutions continue to show an interest in providing
services through this
channel. Indeed, many financial institutions and ATM manufacturers and
software
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developers have continued to invest in making new services available through
the ATM
channel. Often this is proposed to be done through a 'web-enabled' ATM, where
the ATM
supports traditional financial functions in a conventional way, and offers
additional functions
through some other more flexible interface.
While traditional ATM transactions are commonly supported in existing
financial
transaction networks, and these networks provide defined and well-understood
interfaces to
the back-end computer systems of financial institutions, enabling new
transactions and
transaction types on an ATM typically requires either extending the capability
of these
interfaces or creating new interfaces to a financial institution's back-end
banking systems.
Both approaches typically require significant time and money, making it
difficult for
financial institutions to take advantage of the increasing capabilities of the
ATM channel.
By enabling such web-based banking and financial transaction services, the
financial
institutions provide a second limited subset of functions, which may partially
overlap the
functions provided by the legacy or inter-bank "consortia" financial
transaction systems (such
as "interac", see above). These newer web-browser-accessible transactions and
services are
typically provided by the financial institution putting up various web-pages
which tie to the
particular institution's internal back-office and database management systems.
For now, we will use the term "TEM" to refer to a Transaction Execution
Machine, which is
any machine on which or through the operation of which, a transaction can be
executed with
an institution. An ATM, for example, is a TEM (but a TEM may not be an ATM,
since, for
example, a browser-configured computer capable of performing web-based
banking, would
also be a TEM).
Existing Approaches to Service Expansion
One approach to expand system capabilities has been to use the traditional,
existing
interface between the TEM, network and financial institution for existing
transactions, and
simply connecting the 'web-enabled' capability of the TEM to a financial
institution's web
site. The TEM may be connected to the same web site as used by the bank's
customers using
the web banking site conventionally, or to a special web site or server that
provides pages for
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display that are more suited to the display capabilities and other user
interface elements of the
TEM, and which may be different from those normally used by a consumer at a
web banking
site over the web. Using an existing web site does not use the unique
capabilities, yet is
subject to the limitations of the ATM channel, while creating a special web
site duplicates
effort in creating and maintaining similar web sites, and thus this approach
is complex and
inefficient.
Another approach has been to create special interfaces to back-end banking
systems,
either directly, (typically necessitating many complex interfaces to older,
less flexible, poorly
understood legacy systems), or alternatively through one or more application
servers that a
financial institution may use to exchange data between its web server and the
back-end
systems. This approach is not only costly and time consuming, but also often
requires
extensive access to very limited key resources within the institution with
expertise in legacy
systems or other unique bank infrastructure.
This invention takes a conceptually different approach, described below, to
address
these and other shortcomings in prior methodologies.
SPECIFIC DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART
Preliminary Discussion of Prior Art:
There seem to be three logical segments of prior art in this area. One is
typified by the
Citicorp and Citibank, and the continuations-in-part the Diebold family of
patents and
applications (see below) having to do with web-enabled ATMs handling
proprietary or legacy
communications protocols such as IS08583 or Diebold 911/912 TM, or other state-
based and
secure transaction-controlling protocols. The other has to do with database
management
systems which use user profiles to locate and display information from a
variety of databases
(this might be called "meta search" or "personalization" methods). The third
area of interest
seems to be the translation of information from one format to another for
useful display and
interaction purposes, and here might be included recent (late 1999) commercial
services such
as "i-web", "phone.com", and some Palm Pilot (TM) applications which allow the
browsing of
certain classes of conventional web-pages and sites by cell-phone or PDA using
a much less
rich display and processing technology on the user's browsing machine (for
example, a cell-
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phone's or a PDA's mono-chrome or grey scale small screen and on-board
processor rather
than the desk-top or lap-top computer the web-page or site was designed for).
In the web-enabled ATM arena, there are a variety of translator means whereby
communications to and from legacy banking or financial institution transaction
systems can
be correlated and transposed, on the fly during a transaction or transaction
set with a user, by
a modern, programmable, computer-based TEM such that the display and interface
component of the TEM is functionally worked as a web-enabled browser or
similarly
operated interface and the legacy transaction system receives and sends data
in form and
format, sequence and type, that conform to expected legacy transaction
protocols, while a
part of the TEM provides the essential translations. Of course, in such a
system, the
communications will of necessity be only as "rich" as the least common
denominator of the
two sets of functions (user interface or legacy system enablement).
Additionally, There is a
great deal of difficulty technically in matching or correcting web-based and
legacy based
transaction components to function adequately, as expected by both bank,
system, and user,
or at all.
In the computer meta-search engines and other similar user-profile-driven
information-gathering and displaying systems, information about a user is
obtained and kept,
and then used for purposes of customizing or personalizing search terms and
results filters to
search multiple databases and provide personalized reports, tailored to the
user's profile of
interest. Some examples are: US5819284, to provide a custom
newspaper/screensaver from
data from disparate databases on a scheduled basis to provide custom news
reports or sports
reports to a user; see also 4745559 which describes the same kind of thing
(custom reports on
a subscription sort of basis) in higher level terms. Of course, the meta-
searching of multiple
databases is useful in providing reports, and would be interesting in the TEM
realm to
provide reports compiled from personalized searches of a variety of source
databases, such as
searches of a variety of bank-provided web-pages or query-answering portals
for account
information (transaction history, balances, etc) for a number of user accounts
(and perhaps
across more than one financial institution), but the subset of currently
available information
would not be adequate to fulfill expectations of either customers or providers
of TEM and
ATM -based services. For instance, there would be no interactivity with the
bank's web-
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based banking pages (only query and report), and there is no mechanism for
dispensing or
accepting cash or instruments of value at the TEM and accounting therefore.
In the "intermodal" interface translation arena, the main goals are to provide
as much
of a conventional web-page's utility (display, information, interactivity, and
other features) to
a user of the web-page (or site or similar thing) when access (and
communication) is by way
of a different mode or device or platform than the web-page was designed to
accommodate.
An example of such a service might be Gadgetspace Inc.'s "Mobilemediary" TM
software
middleware system, which essentially handles the translation of communications
between a
user's platform and a provider's web-page to enable that user to access as
many features of
that web-page as that user's platform can display. Translation may include
more than
stripping of graphics or revision of page command language and formatting
instructions, but
can also include, as an example, the replacement of a drop-down menu (useful
on a
conventional computer display but not useful on a cell-phone's display) into a
numbered
"pick list" useful and operable on a cellphone display and keyboard (a very
limited interface
set).
The following specific references to prior patent art are inserted to show
both "state of
the art" and to explain the technical area of interest to perceive a fuller
discussion of the
operation, concept and advantages of this invention.
Citicorp US Patent No. 5 933 816 entitled "System and Method for Delivering
Financial
Services":
US Patent No. 5,933,816 ('816) by Citicorp Development Center, Inc. relates to
the
provision with a single banking institution's many international branches of
location-specific
and customer-specific interfaces. Generally, the '816 patent teaches a
delivery system for
financial services capable of providing uniformity across the various remote
devices which
might be used to access a single bank's system in a variety of locales, in a
way that the
customer is presented with a consistent and familiar interface. These
interfaces are provided
by re-useable segmented scalable computer coding means, rules based upon
locale of bank
branch or customer (relating to banking regulations, currency denominations,
rules with
respect to deposits and withdrawals limits, and the like), and rules based
upon local language
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with the ability to interconnect ATMs and other transaction devices (including
legacy
systems) to a variety of the single bank's computers in a variety of different
locales to
provide a growing variety of financial services to the bank's customers. By
providing re-
usable common application code bases for remote devices, the '816 proposes to
decrease
time-to-implement, testing time, and errors. These teachings provide a modular
software
approach to support a variety of computing devices with interfaces with which
the single
bank's customer has some familiarity. The Citibank's method is single-bank-
centric and its
inventive software enablement is conceptually different.
Discussion of Diebold Incorporated family of HTML-enabled ATM s stems'
There is some discussion in the prior art, in particular within a family of
ATM
applications made by Diebold ( Canadian Patent Nos. 2,271,209 /210 /212-216
/218-220
/222-224 /394 and 686) which is useful. The disclosures of these patents teach
integrating
legacy captive ATM systems into a modern network of ATM and similar
transaction
machines operating over TCP/IP. These systems provide means of interacting
with legacy
driver computer systems and legacy ATMs interposing a translation system
between the
legacy and the modern elements of the network. These applications provide a
user-centric
system for incorporation into legacy or traditional captive ATM systems to
provide for
personalization of the user experience with a single institution.
Legacy or traditional captive ATM systems operate on the basis of a network of
ATM
machines which are made to behave like dumb terminals with attached
peripherals and
sensors, connected to a driver computer which controls the presentation,
transaction logic and
sequence, peripheral functionality, and transaction authorizations, and
records ATM activity
for later accounting purposes. Typically, such captive systems utilize
proprietary
communications languages and techniques such as Diebold 911/912. One
disadvantage with
this system is that typically no institution other than the single ATM
controlling institution
has any direct control over the ATM, and communications with so-called foreign
institutions
are done through a transaction protocol previously agreed to. These almost
always follow a
paradigm of "request/response" in a sequential manner, with a multiplicity of
small
communications in the captive ATM's intranet and between the ATM driver
computer and
the foreign institution. The subject matter of these transactions deal only
with the financial
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aspects of the transactions, and not with the look and feel of the interface
between the
customer and the ATM during the transaction, nor with any ability to repurpose
or take
advantage of the institution's web-based systems. The protocols, languages,
and the structure
of the system impose many of the limitations in cross-institutional
functionality as discussed
S above.
In one disclosure (Diebold '218), the legacy ATM driver computer issues and
receives instructions and information in proprietary format. An http server
machine is
interposed between the legacy driver computer and the target ATM (which is a
web-enabled
ATM), and the interposed server machine incorporates a database lookup
translation means
and communicates translated driver computer information and instructions to
the web-
enabled ATM over http. In another variant (Diebold '224), a legacy-enabled ATM
receives
and transmits information via legacy protocols in formats designed to be
accepted and acted
upon from a legacy driver computer, and responsive thereto. The ATM refers to
a further
http server to obtain graphical user interface elements particular to that
user and from there to
that user's preferences. In Diebold '686 there is reference to an HTML-enabled
ATM in
operative connection with a "home http server", which takes the place of the
legacy driver
computer and provides connection with the home institution's back-office
operations or with
"foreign" institutions.
However, in all Diebold information management systems provided, the ATM
obtains
the user identity, goes to a user-related home address to pull information
with respect to the
user and the user's preferences, and provides a user-centric, personalized
interface and logic
at the ATM during the user's transaction session. These Diebold systems focus
on providing
a user-centric interface which has similar cross-institutional functionality
deficiencies as
discussed above, pertaining to bank-centric models. In addition, these Diebold
systems uses
a large number of user information "pages" and "addresses", which can generate
a great deal
of traffic over the network, which typically requires relatively large amounts
of secure and
accessible storage to accomplish, and as well could result in difficulties
providing institution-
specific branding where there may be multiple institutions related somehow to
one user
identity and address. Additionally, there are no flexible, mufti-
institutional, mixed web-and
legacy-accomplished transactions or transaction systems contemplated.
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Additionally, in the Bank-centric and user-centric models discussed above, a
user is
usually only provided with means of dealing with one institution at a time on
an ATM, which
does not address performing inter-institutional transactions by a customer.
The above
systems may provide these transactions as a part of the single ATM-controlling
institution's
S functionality, but this is limited to its captive ATMs. The provision
throughout the Diebold
descriptions of user-centric data and communications models have numerous
disadvantages,
which include the need to keep a large number of addresses and volume of
information
current, accessible, and secure within the system in order that the user-
centric locations are
useful. Additionally, the systems disclosed are "chatty" and require a large
number of inter-
component communications steps that could be problematic on low-bandwidth or
high-
latency communications links or processing machines. As well, the paradigm of
user-
centricity may provide for personalization of certain transaction types but
limit the utility of
the entire system.
CITIBANK US PATENT NO. S 963 647
US Patent No. 5,963,647 by Citibank Development Center, Inc. teaches a method
and
system of transferring funds from a bank account to an anonymous individual.
These funds
are transferred from the account to a cash access file accessible by use of a
set of securely
provided codes, which may then be used at any (enabled) ATM to obtain cash (in
the source
or the recipient's local currency) securely and anonymously. This system
provides
accounting at the time of cash withdrawal, as well as status enquiries, and
cancellation/repudiation. One disadvantage with this system is that cross-
institutional
functionality, during the same transaction session, is not provided.
Furthermore, fund
transfers between accounts must be accomplished through an extra intermediate
account, and
do not reference the user's identity. There is no mention or contemplation of
multi-institution
or mufti-format communication in background through middleware.
It is apparent from the above that there is a need for a transaction execution
system
that enables financial institutions to provide branded ATM services to their
customers with a
broad geographic coverage, which may not be economically feasible or
technically possible
without sharing the implementation costs of the ATM deployment amongst a
number of
institutions for any but the largest institutions. There is also a
disadvantage of prior ATM
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systems arising from the limited number of full service ATM locations
available to any one
financial institution.
ATMs not part of any particular "captive ATM network", such as "White Label"
ATMs, cannot provide the "full service" capability available on a captive
system ATM to a
member institution's customers. This situation is undesirable and less than
optimal for
operators of non-captive ATMs, since fewer transactions and fewer transaction
types can be
conducted at their terminals, thus reducing their utility and derived revenue.
There is a need to provide to "virtual banks" a means of interacting with
their
customers by issuing and receiving physical value items (such as coupons, bank
drafts,
certification process, deposits) as well as their more usual "electronic
banking by PC or
phone" services at a multiplicity of ATM locations
I S It is apparent from the prior art and practice that there is limited cross-
institutional
functionality in any ATM which limitations are dictated by the structure of
the traditional
ATM network and inter-network consortia systems of operation (e.g. Interac's
hobbled sub-
set of transaction types) and the protocols and paradigms they employ.
It is an object of this invention to provide a transaction execution system,
method,
apparatus and business method, in which the above shortcomings and
disadvantages are
obviated or mitigated, or in which the above-described needs are addressed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In no case, except perhaps in the "intermodal" interface translation arena and
then
only amongst variants of SGML or page-description methods (such as HTML and
variants to
run handheld devices), do any of the prior art methods found combine
information in
middleware from various differing types of sources responsive to user profile
information
using automatic "user proxies" in software, configured to transact series of
communications
relatively simultaneously to effect, in a transparent way, a desired
transaction on several
different banking systems. This invention aims to do (at least) that.
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A. New Approach
A better approach is to use the financial institution investments that have
already been
made in both web banking sites and existing financial transaction network
connectivity,
combining these with a new approach to create a flexible, low cost, quickly
implemented
interface to proprietary, public or shared ATM channels with the further
benefit that
minimizes dependence on scarce resources with legacy systems knowledge.
This invention uses one or more TEMs that have the capability of providing at
least
one non-traditional transaction type (that is not typically supported by
existing financial
transaction networks, and generally lying outside the scope of ISO 8583
transaction standard
messages), a financial transaction network (whether owned and operated by a
bank or another
party), and at least one financial institution with a web site of a type that
may be used for
consumer web banking. For any transaction that can be supported by the
existing network,
such as cash withdrawals, account to account transfers and similar
transactions dependent
upon the capabilities of the network, the ATM may communicate with the
financial
institution via the existing or "legacy" network. Typically this is only
required for cash
withdraw requests that depend on a wider transaction and business
infrastructure to settle that
makes using a new and different message system and business infrastructure
less attractive,
or for deposits or withdrawals of physical things of value.
For other transactions, especially all types other than cash withdraw
requests, whether
of a type supported by existing networks or of an entirely new type or
purpose, but of a type
that is or can be supported by the bank's web-banking site, the TEM
communicates with a
middleware piece (called here a "translator" or the "systems", which includes
by this
definition, the translator), and the translator communicates with one or more
public or private
web sites that can present bank information to customers, and/or obtain
information for the
bank from the customers, and/or permit customers to conduct some forms of
transactions.
The translator includes the capability to accept and forward data for
collection, a request from
the TEM for data from one or more of the web sites, or a request from the TEM
for a
transaction involving one or more of the web sites. The translator has
sufficient information
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through configuration or other information supplied regarding the web site or
sites, or
alternatively the additional or alternative capability to search, parse or
otherwise determine
the necessary approach to optionally log in or otherwise identify the user to
all needed web-
sites, (the customer at the TEM), optionally activate the correct sequence of
web screens to
send the data to the financial institution, obtain required information from
the financial
institution, and/or initiate a transaction with the institution.
In one embodiment, the translator and system includes in addition to the
previously
described capability, or as an alternative to that capability, the capability
for one or more of
the financial institution web sites and/or the translator to optionally
recognize one or a group
or segment of customers or an individual customer, and initiate a transmission
of data or a
request for a transaction from the financial institution to the TEM, whether
or not the
customer would have had the capability, the intention or the desire to obtain
the data or
initiate the transaction.
In another version of the invention, the customer is known to one or more of
the web
sites with which the TEM interacts. For example, the customer may have a
conventional web
login, token, biometric identification or other means, or a combination
thereof, useful to
identify and authenticate the users to the web site using a terminal connected
to a network
which is or is similar to the world wide web or a more restricted intranet.
All, or alternatively
a subset or superset, of the information sent to or obtained from the web site
or sites, or
transactions available via conventional login to the site.
In another version, the translator accesses more than one web site, where each
one of
at least two web sites is from a related institution or business. In still
another, the translator
accesses more than one web site, where each one of at least two web sites is
from an
unrelated institution or business. In a further version, the customer accesses
financial data via
a conventional transaction with an institution or institutions, while one or
more web sites are
used to present, modify, transact or gather data, and are from another
institution or another
entity with whom the customer could interact on a data or transactional basis
via networks
such as the public web or private intranet, and even though the institution
and other entity are
separate to a greater or lesser degree, the experience of the customer is such
that the available
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data, requested data, and/or transactions proposed appear to be integrated,
substantially
integrated or otherwise related.
In a further embodiment, the system through the middleware component includes
all
the capabilities and advantages that XML or other self defining data path or
communications
definition might provide, whether using XML from the TEM to translator,
translator to web
site or financial institution, or both.
In another embodiment relating to business processes, the translator is
operated by
part of the financial transaction network, eliminating the need for the
institution to own or
rent the translator, and optionally eliminating any need for the financial
institution to change
or maintain the configuration of the translator to obtain or place the
necessary information
from or to the web site as the web site is changed by or on behalf of the
financial institution.
The translator may service multiple device types, multiple device owners,
multiple financial
transaction networks, and multiple financial institutions. Further, the system
may include
links to related or other web sites of potential interest to the user or the
displays of which are
useful to the institution, such as news sites, to get automatically updated
attractor screens, or
retail web sites to give retailers on whose premises the TEMs may be located
some of the
advertising advantages financial institutions conventionally enjoy. Finally,
it may also be
used by third parties that wish to easily and quickly use the ATM channel and
don't want to
invest in a costly interface to their back-end systems - if a customer can do
it on the web, they
can do it at a TEM connected to this system, with translator.
The above arrangements generally assume that the system is created by, or for
the
benefit, or with the co-operation, of one or more financial institutions. It
is to be understood
that the translator and at least one or more of the available interactions can
exist and be
accomplished without the explicit permission, or even co-operation, of the
financial
institution. The customer gets the benefit of some or all of available 'web
banking' services
via the TEM together with traditional financial transactions, through the
middleware's 'stand-
in' or 'proxy' functionality in background
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The invention thus encompasses situations where a consumers' own TEM usage is
paid for directly by the customer, or partly or completely by some other third
party such as an
advertiser or the TEM's owner or merchant on whose premises the TEM is
located, and may
be done in combination with other services being offered by one or more of
their financial
institutions that may be partly or completely paid for by those financial
institutions or any of
them.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features of the preferred embodiments of the invention will
become
more apparent in the following detailed description in which reference is made
to the
appended drawings wherein:
Figure 1 is a schematic of a dynamically branded transaction execution system;
Figure 2 is a transaction execution machine (TEM) of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a user interface of the TEM of Figure 2;
Figure 4 is an alternative embodiment of Figure 1;
Figure 5 is an alternative embodiment of Figure 1;
Figure 6 is an alternative embodiment of Figure 1;
Figure 7 is a schematic representation of a TEM display of Figure 2 emulating
hard-
wired buttons; and
Figure 8 is a representation of a screen-shot during a macro-account
transaction using
the system of Figure 1.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Requirements for translator in system to operate in a multi-institution, multi-
network
transaction system according to this invention:
a. at least one "legacy" system, most likely the TEM-owning institution or an
Electronic
Funds Transfer system (such as an "Authorizing Authority"), if such system is
required to effect the transaction set proposed by the user at the TEM (now,
for
example, to deal with physical things of value such as money dispenses or
deposits);
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b. at least one web-based banking system (which could be operated by or for
any
institution) and as many as is required to effect the transaction series
proposed by the
user at the TEM;
c. one account which is accessible by each of those two systems, if the
middleware
"translator" is to accomplish a transaction between two systems which could
not be
accomplished on either system acting alone:
-for other cases, such as making multiple enquiries and transactions during a
single
session, but where the transactions and enquiries are not related, no common
account
is required and the translator can accomplish the transactions proposed
without
reliance upon a relationship between one system and another during a session;
-as well, a transaction series across multiple accounts may be accomplished
using
translator means where at least one account is accessible by both of two such
systems
and a second account is accessible across one of such systems and a third
system, and
the end-result of the transaction series which is desired is effected between
the first
account on the first system and the third account on the third system (which
is not
directly related to the first, but only related to the second system).
-It can be seen that the "chain" of related accounts may extend beyond two or
three
systems, provided there is a link between systems which can be utilized.
Typically, a EFT system operator will require the user to be both identified
and
authenticated using card or other indicia and PIN or other security device.
Typically, a web-based system will require the user to be both identified
(userid) and
authenticated (password).
(The transaction series required to execute the transaction proposed by the
user, of
course, requires identification and authentication of the user, and that might
be the only step
requiring transaction with a legacy system. Alternatively, a legacy system may
be required to
access two accounts in a chain of transactions without being required to
dispense or accept
deposit of articles of value).
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Preferredly, the provision of identification (card) and authentication (PIN)
indicia to
the TEM can be used to automatically cause the middleware to provide the
identification
(userid) and authentication (password) to the web-based banking systems and,
if required,
identification (card number or mag-stripe contents) and authentication (PIN)
required by
other legacy systems required to accomplish the transaction series proposed by
the user at the
TEM. This might be accomplished by:
1. the user could pre-enroll with the middleware (or at a data store
accessible to the
middleware) so that the middleware could using one identification and
authentication
pair obtain access to and use of the other identification/authentication
information
2. an institution providing a transaction system, whether web-based or legacy,
could
accept the identification/authentication pieces provided at the TEM by the
user as a
suitable substitute for its usual identification/authentication means
3. the middleware could pass through to the user system requests for user
identification and authentication during a transaction series and capture same
during
the transactions, and either:
-store the same in a user database of identities, identification and
authentication information, and external systems for later reuse; or
-not store the same, providing no re-usable convenience
4. an institution could permit the middleware to access the institution's user
databases
to seek identification and authentication information respecting the user
accessing the
TEM based upon information provided by that user to the TEM (such as cross-
referencing a credit card number from a mag-card at the TEM to the card-
issuing
bank's database which is capable of finding that user's web-based banking
identity
and accounts by using that card number), and permitting the middleware to then
use
the found data to identify and authenticate the transactions required with
that
institution's legacy or web-based systems as part of the user's proposed
transaction
ser>es;
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Overlapping or common "accounts" in this system may include ordinary customer-
accessible institutional accounts, but may also include inter-system clearing
mechanisms such
as electronic bill-paying and transfer accounts operated under Canadian
Payment Systems or
similar funds transfer or clearing systems permitting inter-system transfers
and settlements.
When a user proposes a transaction which requires a series of sub-transactions
amongst more than one system due to the lack of capability within a single
system to effect
the transaction (such as between account A 1 at system A and account B2 at
system B, where
system A has accounts A 1 and A2, and system B has accounts B3 and B2, and
where
accounts A2 and B2 are the same account), there may be more than one series of
interaccount
transactions which might have the same net effect as the transaction proposed
by the user (for
example a transaction between accounts A1 and C4 where the accounts within the
accessible
systems (A, B, and C) are Al, A2, B2, B3, C2, C3, and C4, with B2, C2, and A2
are the same
account, and B3, C3 are the same account, two series possible to effect a A 1
to C4 transaction
are: A 1 to B2 to B3 to C3 to C4 or A 1 to C2 to C4. The translator may use
any method of
selecting a transaction series to effect the proposed transaction desired by
the user, and may
do so automatically responsive to pre-set or programmed optimum-seeking
parameters or by
presenting choices to the user, or by any combination of those methods.
It should be apparent that this system may include more than one transaction
system
provided by a single institution (for example a legacy-based cash dispense and
a web-based
banking funds transfer), or may include a single system operated by a
consortium of
institutions, and so is not necessarily limited by the number of institutions
or systems in its
various embodiments.
In order to practice this invention, first is deployed a computer system
comprising
processor(s), memory, storage, and suitable inputs and outputs connected to a
network which
is connected to a TEM and to at least one institution's web-banking systems or
legacy
financial authorization system, but more typically to at least one of each
type of system, and
which execution system, including translator, may reside at any point in said
network
(including in the network standing alone, in the TEM, in the financial
system's web-servers,
in the financial system's legacy or back-end systems, or distributed amongst
those places)
and having system and applications software programmed to function as set out
below.
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Said system is configured with software which is capable of performing the
following
tasks:
-accepting input from a user, for example by keyboard, camera, microphone,
card-
reader, touch-screen or any combination of conventional or unconventional
means, as
relayed to the system from the TEM's interface.
-utilizing said information to accept instructions from the user to perform a
financial
transaction (which may be part of a series of transactions in one or more
sessions),
which transaction may be a transaction which could not ordinarily be performed
using
either the financial institution's legacy transaction system or the financial
system's web-
based banking system, alone
-here, where we refer to legacy systems, we mean systems such as (by example
and not
by limitation) those using state-based or other proprietary communications and
transaction authorizing systems such as ISO 8583 or Diebold 9I 1/913.
-when we refer to web-based banking systems we refer to both consumer and
commercial remote banking systems provided to a bank's customers to permit,
for
example, account and transaction history queries, inter-account funds
transfers,
automatic and incidental electronic bill payments, and the like, and we
include here
reference as well to securities trading and margin accounts, line of credit
tracking and
facilitation accounts, and similar things provided by all manner of
institutions.
To use an example by way of description of an embodiment, a user identifies
himself to
a TEM and enters a passcode or otherwise effects the identification in an
acceptably secure
manner to the systems involved; the TEM provides an interface and input
devices which
permits the user to request a transaction; in this example the user chooses to
withdraw $S00
cash from his securities margin account at his broker institution from the
TEM; the broker
cannot authorize the withdrawal of cash from the TEM, not having pre-arranged
funds
transfer and settlement and authorization mechanisms with the operator of the
TEM (the
"ATM driver") and the authorizing authority of the TEM's dispense functions;
the TEM can
itself or can direct the translator and execution systems to access a legacy
financial
transaction consortium (such as " interac" and others), which permits a
limited variety of
transactions such as funds withdrawal from either a chequing account or a
savings account at
any one of a number of institutions who are members of the particular
transaction consortium
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system; the user may be prompted to choose from a list of member financial
institutions or
the user's choice of institution to use in the funds dispense transaction may
have formed part
of the user's profile available in storage to the system; the system opens a
browser connection
to the web-based banking system operated by the user's broker, and responsive
to the user's
request to withdraw $500, instructs said web-based system to move $500 from
the broker
account to the user's banking institution's account from which the cash
withdrawal will be
made according to the TEM's legacy "interac" system; there may be more than
one web-page
and more than one user action required to perform that transfer of funds, and
the middleware
in the translator portion effects those steps automatically through pre-
programmed
instructions (in essence becoming a "proxy" for the user); there may in fact
be a requirement
to simultaneously or nearly simultaneously perform authorization and
authentication and
other steps using another browser-based banking system with the user's
financial institution
through which the funds are being first deposited in order that the withdrawal
might be
authorized, which would involve at least another preprogrammed user "proxy";
additionally,
and once the funds transfer from broker account to chequing account has been
effected, the
system acts to cause legacy transaction instructions and state-declarations to
be transmitted
and received in appropriate formats and sequences, to and from the "interac"
or similar
system, in order that that system can instruct the TEM to dispense the $S00
cash; the TEM
will also provide user-interface displays to provide the user with status
reports and queries
with responses available during the steps in the transaction in order that
variances from the
proposed transaction and reports that the transaction can or cannot proceed
can be presented;
the TEM, once authorized, dispenses cash and perhaps a printed transaction
verification;
additionally, the TEM provides internal record-keeping functions ordinary to
TEMs of its
class. Thus, it is possible with no new or customized reprogramming to either
the institution's
existing web-based customer transaction system or to the legacy financial
authorization
system, or by the consortium, to provide a more fully-capable TEM transaction
set using
existing infrastructure.
As will be plain to one familiar with financial institution transaction
automation
systems and programming, there are a variety of legacy and web-based or
similar
communications and transaction systems which can be linked and operated in
such a system
using an automated middleman, or "middleware" to link, aggregate, and act as
user proxy, to
provide secure, authenticated, complex and new transactions and transaction
types and
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sessions to TEM users while neither requiring extraordinary user inputs or
inconvenience, nor
requiring extensive or expensive programming, system development, intra-
institutional
agreement, or other effort, using existing infrastructure, and permitting the
integration and
aggregation of multi-system transactions transparently to the users) of the
TEM and system.
It should also be apparent that more than one sub-transaction can be in
process at any
gmen point in time, and that some of the subtransactions can in fact be
performed later (after
the user-session ends at the TEM) provided the proxy-appointing means survives
the
withdrawal of identification and authentication means at the TEM by the user.
For example,
using the example where $500 cash is withdrawn from the user's broker's
account (above), if
the user had a $500 balance (or sufficient credit within the authorizing
authority's system to
permit a cash withdrawal of $500 from any of user's accounts accessible by the
TEM), the
cash dispense could proceed without the completion of the other sub-
transactions making up
the user's proposed transaction ($S00 cash from broker account), and those sub-
transactions
could proceed in parallel with the cash withdraw, or at a different time than
the cash
withdrawal authorization and instructions. The system, through translator and
proxy
instructions and communications (even absent the user and user's
identification and
authentication means, those having been given once), could proceed to access
user's web-
based banking system accounts maintained with user's broker (for example) and
instruct in an
authorized way the transfer of $500 from the broker account to the user's
chequing account
(the account from which cash was dispensed, and which second transactions
causes the series
of subtransactions to effect, on a "net" basis, the transaction proposed by
the user in the first
place.
The same holds true for multi-step transaction series of over 2 steps, over
more than
one institution, and with more than one (logical) route and sequence available
for "net"
execution of the user's proposed transaction (which, it can be appreciated,
can be executed in
an order and at times chosen from the orders and times possible either by the
TEM, the
system, the user, a set of user-provided rules or wishes or instructions, or
any combination of
those things, and which sequence and timing might also be flexible in order to
route around
problems with an account, a communications link, a web-page, an account
balance, an
institution, the capabilities of the TEM, the capabilities or down-time of a
legacy or a web-
based banking system required, or some combination of those things).
Additionally, the
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sequence and timing of execution of sub-transactions can be modified to
reflect transaction
pricing, exchange rate fluctuations, or other cost items. Further, the
transaction sequence and
timing might be adjusted to optimize overall system and translator
performance, or for a
variety of other reasons, or for any sensible combination of such reasons. As
well, it may be
that the system and its included translator/middleware calculates all
permutations of possible
sub-transaction sequences and event timing and provides a method of permitting
the user to
choose amongst those methods or to rank amongst the possible permutations (and
then saves
those choice results to affect either ranking of permutations in a next user-
proposed
transaction using the system or to form a default routing, sequencing, and
timing program for
execution of sub-transactions to execute the user's proposed transaction at
the TEM.
Finally, it may be possible for a user, using such an enabled TEM on such a
system, to
give instructions along the lines of "standing orders" or "repeat" cycles, to
effect periodic
executions of a user-proposed transaction (which might include a series of
subtransactions to
be organized by the system and translator with defaults and fall-backs to
different accounts if,
for instance, exchange rates or account balances were lower than some pre-
determined level).
Some examples of such a series of periodic executions might be to transfer $X
from one of
user's broker accounts or user's line of credit accounts (accessible to the
system) to the
account of a third party, or to pay a periodic loan payment such as a car or
mortgage loan
payment. While means of instructing pre-authorized payment schemes exist, none
exist to
effect such transactions over a series of institutions and using rules and
other methods for
optimization. Recall that the definition of TEM may include more than an
automatic teller
machine, and can also include other forms of interface with the system (such
as by PDA over
wireless, or personal computer via conventional connection with the web or
telephone
systems).
An embodiment of the present invention generally provides a method and system
for
operating a transaction terminal, also known as a "transaction execution
machine" (TEM).
The TEMs can be incorporated into a transaction execution system that connects
the TEMs
by a routing and processing system to various financial institutions. The TEMs
can assume
"multiple personalities" responsive to user inputs and institutional inputs or
may be
determined by predetermined specifications (or branding elements) of a
customer selected
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institution during a transaction session. The execution system provides for
the TEM
apparatus and for a system that includes such dynamically branded TEMs.
A TEM is a machine with a purpose of effecting a transaction between a user of
the
machine and an institution, where the TEM interacts with the user through
input/output sub-
components. The TEM and the institution are coupled by communication and
configuration
systems.
A TEM can include a variety of known devices, predictable devices, and those
which
may arise in future. Known devices which are capable of being TEMs when
properly
configured as part of the system disclosed include (by example and not by
limitation) the
following: ATMs; personal computers with browsers and web access; web-TV (TM
Microsoft
Corporation) and similar devices; browser-enabled cell-phones, PDAs; various
automated
bank machines, two-way pagers; portable computers with wired or wireless web
or
1 S communications access; kiosks such as touch-screen/interactive information-
displaying
kiosks with communications means; any of the above, either with or without
printing, sheet
dispensing, scanning, or depository or other similar "legacy ATM" typical
capabilities. The
TEMs could also be a variety of automated cash machines, automated bank
machines, point
of purchase devices, kiosks, and other devices with a means to receive ID from
or of a user
and to subsequently perform or execute a transaction. When used herein, "TEM"
or
Transaction Execution Machine, shall have this meaning.
The TEMs can include a browser, and the configuration spoken of including
branding,
which is accomplished by supplying to the browser system in the TEM
instructions and data
in forms like documents with embedded tags, but which are in fact anything
capable of being
handled by a browser, including by example and not by way of limitation,
applets, data and
instructions capable of being handled by plug-ins to a browser, and the like.
Content may be
rendered by the browser to provide an interface to the user at the TEM by
being converted
into a display and interface, while the TEM may be controlled by data and
instructions sent to
it which are otherwise handled by the browser or its plug-in applications or
mini-apps or
applets or the like, such as instructions to permit recognition of a touch-
screen input device,
means of accomplishing the dispensing of cash and the consequent recording of
machine
states and events or transactions, the operation or engagement of peripheral
devices at the
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TEM, the communication of TEM states, and the like. Thus, the user interface
provided by
the configured TEM is anything renderable by at least one browser, including
but not limited
to faceless browsers or a browser with no skin, streaming audio or video, or
other data-type
plug-ins, players or components such as Quicklime (TM Apple Computers),
Shockwave
(TM Macromedia), Flash (TM), Realaudio (TM Real Corp), and the like.
In one example, an ATM deployer, merchant or the operator of the system could
enable a user to express a language or currency preference from a range of
available choices,
and the system can display all the TEM's functionality in the language or
currency of that
user's selected choice. Further, the system can record the preferences
expressed by the user
as entered either at the TEM or through some other means or at some other
time, and recall
those preferences to modify and personalize the TEM experience. The interface
elements can
be predetermined by the associated institutions, and/or the TEM customers,
during setup and
operation of the system or during particular stages of a transaction session.
In order to use the system of the multi-personality TEMS, each institution
with which
the user wishes to interact must be determined. In order to determine the
desired institutions,
some information must be provided. This information can take any of several
very distinct
forms:
a. physical machine readable indicia presented by the user. This would
include, but not
be limited to, smart or other cards and cheques;
b. biometric information about the user. This could include (without
limitation)
measurable physiological identifiers such as voice-print, fingerprint, iris
scans and the
like; or
c. some indicia transmitted, such as by infrared, RF, phone (call a number on
the TEM)
or otherwise to the TEM at the user's direction or on the user's behalf.
It is also possible for a user to begin using the system by allowing the user
to make a
selection using the user interface provided by the TEM such as by a choice on
its wait state
interface. This would usually be by making selections on a touch screen on the
TEM, or by
using a keypad, keyboard or buttons on the TEM.
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Physical indicia presented by a user would at this date most commonly be a
card such
as a credit card or bank issued card. Such a card can have either a magnetic
strip that carries
the necessary information or it can be a chip card or smart card, which has on-
card storage
that contains within it the necessary information, or alternatively or
additionally, the card
might contain a bar code or other machine-readable information. In some cases
a single card
may contain or carry information in several forms such as both on a magnetic
strip or bar
code and within the storage of a chip on the card. In such a case the source
of information
read will depend upon the capabilities of the TEM. For example a card may have
both a
magnetic strip and a bar code, and when the card is used in a TEM that is part
of the system
described herein, the magnetic strip may be read. When that same card is used
at a point-of-
sale checkout of a merchant the bar code on the card may be read by an optical
scanner at the
till.
For brevity, where we use the words "smart card" it shall be taken to mean
either a
memory-only chip card or a chip card that has both memory and computing
capability, as
either can work for the system, methods and apparatus described herein.
Where the indicia is physical, the user presents it to the TEM. Usually this
involves
inserting a card into a card reader on the TEM. Such card readers can take
several forms:
where the user swipes the card through a reader, motorized readers that
retract the card inside
the machine to read them, or ones where the user manually inserts the card and
it stays
accessible to the user. All of these types of readers are suitable for
magnetic cards while only
the last two are suitable for reading chip or smart cards. The motorized
readers are common
in full function automated bank machines and high end kiosks, while the swipe
and manual
insert schemes are more common in low end ATMs, cash dispensers, smart display
phones,
most kiosks and portable devices.
Once the user has presented the card, some or all of the information on the
card is
read in order to determine an institution with which the user desires to
interact. This
information can take a variety of forms including a URL, a BIN, a IIN or a
unique number or
string. The information may actually be two or more pieces of information
which when taken
together are unique for purposes of identifying the institution, and may be
provided in one or
more steps.
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For example, if the operator of a system, as described herein, were to assign
unique
numbers to its member institutions on a country by country basis, and member
institutions
issued their members items which had both this number and the country code in
the form of a
S bar code on the item, then the member institutions could provide for their
users to use the
system by using the bar coded item to provide a unique reference to a member
institution, at
least within the context of that particular system.
If the customer's desired member institution is identified by the customer
presenting a
smart card to the TEM where said card contains identifiers for several
institutions, then the
user is first presented with and makes a selection from a branded display of
all institutions
represented on the card that are members of the said transaction system.
Another way that a user can obtain the branded interface of the desired
institution is to
make a selection from the wait state TEM interface indicating a wish to
manually select an
institution. The user could be prompted using a variety of approaches to
arrive at a desired
unique institution. This could be through a series of narrowing questions, a
search by name,
a series of selections from a series of more and more zoomed-in topic maps or
geographic
maps, or by manually entering institution identification numbers such as its
BIN, IIN or
routing number. The branding of that desired institution would then be
presented assuming
such institution was a member of the system. Typically, the user would then be
required by
the institution to provide further information for identity and
authentication.
In a transaction execution system as defined herein, some or all of the TEMs
may
include a user identification system for automatically identifying said user's
desired
institution by a method that first involves biometric identification of the
user. The biometric
information about the user will be captured at the TEM and will then be
compared with
entries in the biometric databases of each member institution that supports
such method of
identification of a user. For example if the biometric identification method
is an iris scan,
then the user's iris scan only needs to be searched in institutions that have
iris scans for some
of their customers. In this example, to speed the matching it may be desirable
to scan every
institution's iris databases in parallel. If only one match is found then the
branding of the
institution in whose database the match was found will be presented. If more
than one match
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is found, then the system could present to the user on the display of the TEM
a pick list of all
the matching institutions from which the user could make a selection to
proceed. Where
there are several possible institutions for a particular user, of a subset of
the matching
institutions' essential branding elements of those institutions could be
displayed, such as a
small logo and color scheme, in order to assist the user in making a choice.
Having selected
the desired institution, the branding of that institution would be presented.
The relating of
institution to branding location and the presentation of that branding would
be done using
methods and systems previously described.
It may be desirable to improve the performance of biometric matching by having
a
consolidated set of biometric databases maintained at a single location
accessible by the TEM
directly or through some intermediary system.
Please note the examples at the be beginning of this description having to do
with
identification and authorization. Where "card" and "PIN" are used, other
indicia or security
methods may logically be substituted. Also, the "I & A" function may itself be
included as
logical "transaction" or "sub-transaction" set, and may be done in middleware
by the system
using a user's proxy or proxies provided by the translator.
The transaction execution system described herein can be operatively connected
to
one or more traditional or legacy transaction networks, so that when users
presents indicia
that indicates a desired institution which is not a member institution of the
system, the user's
transactions can be supported to the extent possible by operatively
communicating with the
desired non-member institution over traditional transaction networks. In this
case, the
transaction would not be branded and the available transaction types would be
limited to
those supported by the particular traditional transaction network (such as
Interac, Cirrus or
Honor/Star).
In other cases an institution may be a member or participant in the system but
only
connected via a traditional transaction network. In this case, a session can
be branded using
content created by or for the member and served from any of: the TEM;
communications and
routing systems; or a service provider on behalf of the institution.
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In the transaction execution system described herein, the user interface of
the TEM
can include the ability for a user to communicate directly with a
representative of a desired
member institution from said TEM. This direct interaction can begin at a point
in the session
when the institution requires human interaction for reasons of authenticity
related to loss
control, for customer service reasons, to deal with complex requests or direct
interaction.
This can be done with audio conferencing or direct interaction audio and video
conferencing.
The display of the TEM can be used, if suitable, to display the image of the
customer service
representative. The use of the audio conferencing simply requires that the TEM
contain a
suitable microphone and speaker.
This representative can be situated as part of said processing and routing
system, at a
location of said member institution or at a location of a service provider
acting on behalf of
the said member institution.
By allowing each transaction execution machine to control its own peripherals
such as
printers, currency dispensers, depositories, keyboards, screens, and the like
responsive to
programming embedded in documents provided for or routed by a router/switch,
and to report
activities and states back through the same router/switch, it is provided, in
addition to
"dynamic branding" and "customer macro-accounts", functionality on the
network,
preferably at the router/switch, which provides for translation and buffering
and interpretation
services which allow operability of the TEMs which use and expect information
and
programming via XML over TCP/IP, and legacy transaction authorization systems
which use
and expect responses via proprietary message formats and protocols such as
Diebold
911/912.
Conversely, by routing state information from legacy ATMs to the
router/switch,
functionality on the network, preferably at the router/switch, provides for
the translation and
buffering and interpretation services which allow operation of the legacy ATMs
which use
and expect communications and instructions via proprietary message formats and
protocols
such as Diebold 911/912 by either legacy transaction authorization systems or
by more
modern transaction authorization and accounting systems which use and expect
information
and content via XML. (Diebold 911/912 is merely an example of a legacy system
in these
discussions).
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By providing the interpretation, buffering, and translation services for
communication
between legacy authorization and control systems, legacy ATMs, modern web-
enabled TEMs
and modern web-enabled institutions at the router/switch, translation,
buffering, interpretation
and emulation databases, and the required processing and data co-ordination
may occur at a
more powerful and capable computer site than at a limited capacity TEM, and it
also becomes
possible, to provide transaction execution with legacy transaction
authorization instructions
without problems which occur co-ordinating branding information with
transaction
information if those two disparate types of things are provided directly to
the TEM in their
own formats to and from different sources.
For other transactions, especially all types other than cash withdraw
requests, whether
of a type supported by existing networks or of an entirely new type or
purpose, but of a type
that is or can be supported by the bank's web-banking site, the TEM
communicates with a
middleware piece (called here a "translator"), and the translator communicates
with one or
more public or private web sites that can present bank information to
customers, and/or
obtain information for the bank from the customers, and/or permit customers to
conduct some
form of transactions. The translator includes the capability to accept and
forward data for
collection, a request from the TEM for data from one or more of the web sites,
or a request
from the TEM for a transaction involving one or more of the web sites. The
translator has
sufficient information through configuration or other information supplied
regarding the web
site or sites, or alternatively the additional or alternative capability to
search, parse or
otherwise determine the necessary approach to optionally log in or otherwise
identify the user
to all needed web-sites, (the customer at the TEM), optionally activate the
correct sequence
of web screens to send the data to the financial institution, obtain required
information from
the financial institution, and/or initiate a transaction with the institution.
In a further embodiment, the translator and system includes in addition to the
previously described capability, or as an alternative to that capability, the
capability for one
or more of the financial institution web sites and/or the translator to
optionally recognize one
or a group or segment of customers or an individual customer, and initiate a
transmission or
data or a request for a transaction from the financial institution to the TEM,
whether or not
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the customer would have had the capability, the intention or the desire to
obtain the data or
initiate the transaction.
In another version of the invention, the customer is known to one or more of
the web
sites with which the TEM interacts. For example, the customer may have a
conventional web
login, token, biometric identification or other means, or a combination
thereof, useful to
identify and authenticate the users to the web site using a terminal connected
to a network
which is or is similar to the world wide web or a more restricted intranet.
All, or alternatively
a subset or superset, of the information sent to or obtained from the web site
or sites, or
transactions available via conventional login to the site
In another version, the translator accesses more than one web site, where each
one of
at least two web sites is from a related institution or business. In still
another, the translator
accesses more than one web site, where each one of at least two web sites is
from an
unrelated institution or business. In a further version, the customer accesses
financial data via
a conventional transaction with an institution or institutions, while one or
more web sites
used to present, modify, transact or gather data, is from another institution
or another entity
with whom the customer could interact on a data or transactional basis via
networks such as
the public web or private intranet, and even though the institution and other
entity are
separate to a greater or lesser degree, the experience of the customer is such
that the available
data, requested data, and/or transactions appear to be integrated,
substantially integrated or
otherwise related.
In a further embodiment, the system through the middleware component includes
all
the capabilities and advantages that XML or other self defining data path or
communications
definition might provide, whether using XML from the ATM to translator,
translator to web
site or financial institution, or both.
In another embodiment relating to business processes, the translator is
operated by
part of the financial transaction network, eliminating the need for the
institution to own or
rent the translator, and optionally eliminating any need for the financial
institution to change
or maintain the configuration of the translator to obtain or place the
necessary information
from or to the web site as the web site is changed by or on behalf of the
financial institution.
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The translator may service multiple device types, multiple device owners,
multiple financial
transaction networks, and multiple financial institutions. Further, the system
may include
links to related or other web sites of potential interest to the user or the
displays of which are
useful to the institution, such as news sites, to get automatically updated
attractor screens, or
retail web sites to give retailers on whose premises the TEM may be located
some of the
advertising advantages financial institutions conventionally enjoy. Finally,
it may also be
used by third parties that wish to easily and quickly use the ATM channel and
don't want to
invest in a costly interface to their back-end systems - if a customer can do
it on the web, they
can do it at an a TEM connected to this system.
The above arrangements generally assume that the system is created by, or for
the
benefit, or with the co-operation, of one or more financial institutions. It
is to be understood
that the translator and at least one or more of the available interactions can
exist and be
accomplished without the explicit permission, or even co-operation, of the
financial
institution. The customer gets the benefit of some or all of available 'web
banking' services
via a TEM together with traditional financial transactions, through the
middleware's 'stand-
in' or 'proxy' functionality in background
The translator performs the function of changing the data or transaction in
one or
more of the following dimensions: interface type, format, organization,
protocol, message
flow, and data quantity; from an interface convenient and suitable for use at
the TEM and in
integrating data or transactions or otherwise combining the transactions or
data with data
definitions; control flows; locally stored or obtained data, card-based data,
remotely obtained
data from sources other than the financial institution and/or other
information or display
elements; identification; graphical presentation; and branding information
such as color,
logos, and the user interface experience known in the industry as the 'look
and feel' on the
TEM or ATM side; to an interface convenient and suitable for accessing
information sources
such as financial institution web sites.
In one embodiment, the translator includes several element types: ( 1 ) one or
more
web interface elements providing bi-directional translation of data from one
or more web site
formats to a common, simplified format by separating, reducing or translating
the required
data elements of the web site to 'bare' data free of other graphical or other
elements that are
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not relevant to the transaction or data ultimately required or available,
typically with one such
element for each web site to be accessed; (2) one or more optional web control
elements
capable of tracking state information of the web site as though the translator
were a'phantom'
user of the web site and capable of navigating through the various pages
comprising the site
in order to obtain data from or place data into the web site, activate
controls and otherwise
interact with the site in a manner similar to that used by a human through a
web browser as if
the translator were the user, or the user's proxy, with the object of
reducing, changing or
eliminating the knowledge or steps that the system, TEM or customer might
otherwise have
to possess or execute in order to obtain the bare information desired, where
typically multiple
simultaneous proxies of this nature exist with each 'proxy' corresponding to a
single phantom
user, and optionally where multiple phantom users or proxies may substantially
simultaneously correspond to a single user; (3) one or more device interface
elements that can
translate, reformat the 'bare' data, communicate and present or obtain device-
friendly data to
or from multiple models, types and capabilities of TEM, varying in such
elements responsive
to TEM capacities, such as: graphical display resolution, communications
bandwidth
available, local storage available, touch screen, audio interface and many
other elements
existing and contemplated on TEMs that may vary from one TEM to another, and
more
broadly to or from multiple types and models of other devices that may be used
for financial
transactions, including those most like conventional ATMs in their security
capabilities such
as PIN-based point of sale devices, and more broadly still other devices that
may be used for
financial transactions such as different models and manufacturers of PDAs and
cell phones,
where typically there is one element for each device type; (4) a mapping
element that
determines or controls the mapping or routing of information and requests
originating from a
device such as an ATM and arriving via a device interface to one or more web
interface or
web control elements, based on predetermined rules or configurations, or
determined by
algorithm from information supplied via the device interface; (5) optionally a
management
element that maintains information based on devices, financial institutions,
users, or some
combination thereof such as login IDs, passwords, URLs such that the user can
log in or
otherwise identify themselves to the TEM and/or translator, and the translator
can use that
identity to access institution- or customer-specific information without the
customer needing
to enter, or optionally even to know (where, for example, the information is
set up by the
institution) further transaction interactions or details; and (6) optionally a
billing element that
tracks the usage of various elements and resources of the translator such as
to be able to
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separate out the usage of the translator by multiple parties that may be
tracked, reported
and/or billed on independently.
A further embodiment is the above translator where the management element uses
the
card number to determine the right web sites (web interfaces), user IDs, and
passwords for
the cardholder or user. A narrower but useful embodiment is with or without
the card where
the customer supplies an identifier or password, and more narrowly and
specifically the PIN
number, and this is the key used to unlock the web site access data allowing
login and
interaction with the web sites for that customer (or more probably
cardholder), via user
provided, institution-provided, or other security means such as encrypted
keys, transaction
PIN, site passwords and login ID's, and the like.
A further system differentiator from some existing web implementations is for
the
translator to provide or facilitate, beyond the web site login (whether
present or not)
including the PIN block from the ATM in the message to the web site, and
including a box
either in front of the web site (possibly the translator itself) or the
capability within the web
site (though it means a co-operating financial institution and web site
customization) to pass
the PIN number all the way to the banking web site, and have the web site
transactions
validated not because there was a conventional web login (which might or might
not have
been done), but because the card and PIN was actually validated. This approach
brings
ATM-type security to web-style transactions conducted on the ATM, through the
facilitation
of the translator.
In another version, the translator includes the capability to translate
display elements,
transaction information or data from one human readable language or currency
to another.
The language and/or currency used at the TEM may be determined by the
financial
institution, network, or TEM, based on previously known or newly detected
information
about the user; or alternatively determined by the user at the time of the
interaction by
interaction with the system through the user interface by means of an explicit
selection, or
explicitly by coding of card or other indicia, or by the cross referencing of
card or indicia
coding with one or more databases where the user or other controlling party
has stored
information on such preferences or settings appropriate to the user.
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In another implementation, the choices provided to the user via the user
interface at
the TEM are determined based on some information detectable by the TEM or
translator from
any information about the user, including card, other indicia, such as photo
identification,
analysis of spoken information. In one specific implementation, the
information is in the
form of a BIN from the user's provided card, and based on the known national
origins of that
BIN and the subset of languages used in that national market and that
information drives
languages and/or currency displayed at the TEM responsive to the translator.
In other
implementations, the information translated may be other than human readable
language and
may deal with, for example, transaction event sequencing, progress displays,
prompts or other
elements of the user's interaction.
In another implementation, the translator includes the capability to reduce
human
readable information from the web site to coded data that is subsequently
decoded at the
TEM and used to control some element of the customer interaction, or
alternatively re-
translated by the translator or TEM into human readable form which may be in
the same
language as the original information or in another human readable language or
form. In a
further implementation, the translator or TEM has the capability to encode
information or
requests from the TEM into information, codes or tokens that are not directly
human readable
and which are optionally independent of the human language used by the user
and/or the web
site, and the TEM or translator has the capability to translate the codes to
the language
required by the web site or legacy system. These coding and decoding
sequences, logically,
include but are not limited to encryption and verification means such as by
PKL.
In various of the traditional ATMs provided by a number of suppliers, there is
provided in an array at points around the display screen of the ATM a number
of hard-wired
buttons. The display is variable to indicate the functionality of each of said
buttons, which
may be different at different stages during a series of transaction steps
during a user's session
interacting with the ATM.
When a TEM is provided with suitable touch-screen video display as a
peripheral,
said display may be configured by a portion of the information (for example by
way of
HTML documents, tags, applets, or the like) by means of which the TEM is
configured, such
that a portion of said screen is made to emulate the hard-wired buttons on a
traditional ATM,
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in order that a member institution's pre-existing branding information having
to do with the
way it deals with its captive traditional ATM may be emulated, using a
embodiment of this
invention as an example, at a web-enabled, browser-competent TEM connected via
the
routing and switching means to said institution and to branding.
Device capabilities of the operative TEM within a session can be previously
known
by the institution or sent at the beginning of each session, in order to
tailor the user interface
and branding elements presented by the TEM to the capability, screen size,
peripheral
enablement, consumable supply, machines state and the like provided at the
TEM.
At or near a transaction session's start, a TEM could communicate to the
system and
its participants, including the translator, its capabilities and optionally,
the state of its
consumables, to permit optimum utilization. The institution can query the TEM
at any time
during a connection in a session, to obtain device capabilities or status,
status of consumable
supplies on hand at TEM, data collected by or at the TEM, or the like, as
desired.
During operation of the transaction execution system, the TEM could be waiting
in a
mode that can be called an idle or wait state. In this state no user is
directly using the TEM.
A user wishing to make use of the TEM would first provide information to the
TEM that
would then be used to determine the institution with which the user wished to
interact. The
TEM would then be operatively coupled with that institution so that the user
could conduct a
transaction session with the institution. The user would conduct a transaction
session with
that institution where throughout the session the content displayed to the
user was content
specific to that institution and was complete with all aspects of the brand of
that institution
appropriate to the capabilities and location of that TEM. At the end of the
session the TEM
would return to the idle state where it would await another user. A next user
could conduct a
session with a different institution and would then experience an entirely
different set of
content and branding. The TEMs preferably have an open and flexible system of
presenting
content, and facilitate providing a variety of branded content of a plurality
of institutions.
When initiating a transaction session of the TEM with a selected institution,
the term
"operatively coupled" could include, for example:
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- the identification and the provision of communications facilities, direct or
indirect, between them or between one of them and an agent of the other of
them, with or without a persistent physical circuit; and
S - coupling might in some circumstances involve identification and
communication provision between or amongst more than two entities; and
- coupling may be between the user of a TEM and some component of a desired
institution's branding elements, however provided; and
- coupling may mean the system acting as if a coupling described above had
actually taken place.
The TEMs would be coupled via any means that can provide or be made to provide
reliable data transmission over a network. The network would connect the TEMs
with the
desired member institution, service providers acting on behalf of
institutions, and with
authorities responsible for accounting for items of value within the TEMs and
with
organizations responsible for the operation and maintenance of the TEM.
Institutions that could be coupled to the TEMs and thereby make use of the
dynamically branded system described herein include; all manner of financial
institutions,
merchants that wish to develop relationships with their customers particularly
by way of
loyalty systems, government organizations that issue identification or permits
or licenses, and
any other organization that wishes to provide a means of interacting with its
customers or
members at a variety of access points in a way that the institution would have
control over the
image and functionality presented to the user. So, throughout this document,
where the term
"institution" is used, it shall be taken to mean any such type of
organization, institution,
company, government agency, merchant and the like, including for example,
banks, credit
unions, savings and loan companies, finance companies, insurance providers and
brokers,
credit card issuers, securities brokerage firms, trust companies, mutual fund
companies,
wealth management companies, lottery organizations, motor vehicle agencies,
mortgage
companies, government licensing bodies, airlines, cooperatives, associations,
charities, and as
well any type of financial institution, merchant, service provider or
retailer.
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While the institutions are coupled to the TEMs, the execution system may
process
forms of documents that include tags or instructions embedded therein in
addition to legacy
transactions (if any) and said documents may be in several forms and from
several sources,
handled by the translator nearly simultaneously. The most common current types
of tag-
based documents are referred to as HTML ("Hypertext Markup Language"), which
is a
variant of a more generic type of Standardized General Markup Language
("SGML").
SGML includes other variants such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language). XML has
been
developed primarily focused on the transmission of inter-computer
understandable data and
data structures, with some capability of description of presentation elements.
In software implementations of systems using current 'web' technology,
collections
of images, branding elements, machine instructions and data are often referred
to as
'documents'. Documents tend to represent a logical subdivision of a larger set
of related
instructions or data, and frequently include the capability to reference data
in other
documents or pass control to instructions in other documents. These documents
are more
specifically files containing elements in some standardized arrangement such
that the file
elements can be interpreted and the instructions implicit in the file contents
can be acted upon
by the interpreter to set or control the appearance, data, transaction flow
and many other
elements. In the context of dynamic branding, a 'document' may indeed be such
a collection
conforming to widely utilized document standards such as HTML. However, it
will be
readily understood by those skilled in the art that these collections may be
of some less
common type or may even be unique to a specific implementation of the system,
and that the
'document' may not necessarily contain directly human-interpretable elements
such as text,
but that a 'document; can consist of any set of instructions, data or any
combination thereof,
including elements such as software routines, directly executable computer
code,
transportable or platform independent code, data elements, tokens, variables,
and any other
item used in the control of a software process, such that the contents of all
or part of the
'document' can be interpreted, read or executed by the system such that the
system may act
upon them to control, configure or influence its operation, capabilities or
appearance. The
term 'documents' in the context of this system description may be conveniently
considered to
include all conventional and widely standardized collections commonly called
documents,
such as HTML files containing or referencing Java code, in order to aid in the
understanding
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of the system using widely familiar paradigms. However, the term as it applies
to the present
transaction execution system includes, as well the broadest range of any
arrangement,
sequence or collection of instructions, data or code that forms a logical
subdivision of the
intended system behaviour. While this example assumes the conventional usage
of the term
URL, it will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art using the term URL
as defined in the
context of the dynamic branding system that the URL could be any form of
reference or
pointer to the instructions, code or data or any other representation of
initial set of branding
information to be acted upon by the TEM.
XML provides means of describing data through data type definitions, which
while
human-readable, also lend themselves to be machine-processed. XML data
descriptions
begin to represent data types in a model useful to understanding and being
dealt with in a
particular type of business. XML documents may be thought of as "data-driven"
and not
"transaction-driven", and in essence are themselves "self-describing data".
XML formatted
documents are very useful in providing device-independent machine-to-machine
data
communications with hyper-linking capability, and thus XML is currently the
most useful of
the tag-based languages for TEMs and would be an efficient means of describing
data across
multiple systems. It is to be understood, however, that reference herein to
and of the terms
HTML, XML, or SGML or to documents with embedded instructions or tags is to be
considered as a reference to each applicable member of that general group, and
as such are
interchangeable where to do so would be sensible and apparent to one skilled
in the art.
Http and TCP, when its use is implied or assumed, are to be understood as
including
other similar or functionally equivalent transport and document delivery
protocols, such as
but not limited to Wireless Access Protocol, or WAP, and said terms may be
interchanged
when to do so would be sensible to one skilled in the art. Likewise, Wireless
Markup
Language, or WML, is to be interchangeable with XML (as elsewhere defined),
where to do
so would be similarly sensible.
A user's card may contain an actual reference to a document. A well-
standardized
scheme exists for specifying the document, location of the document, and the
protocol for
accessing the document. This scheme is called a Uniform Resource Locator or
URL. An
example of the form of a URL is:
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http://brand.autobranch.com:80/startingpoint.html
Where the "http:/P' portion specifies the protocol for accessing the
information, which
in this example is the "Hyper Text Transfer Protocol" commonly used for
transferring web
documents such as HTML and XML. The "brand.autobranch.com" segment is the name
of
the logical location of the computer that is accessed. That name is converted
into an actual IP
address by using the domain name system (DNS) which provides translation of
names to IP
addresses on the world wide web. The "startingpoint.html" in this example is
the name of
document that is to be retrieved. The ":80" portion of our example is the port
to be used on
the computer being accessed. As many protocols have a default port, this
portion can be and
is often omitted from a URL. So in our example, if a user presented a card
that contained the
above example URL, the TEM would look up the address for the domain
"brand.autobranch.com" and then use the "http" protocol to send an http
request to that
address using the port number specified, "80". The request would ask for the
document
"startingpoint.html". To provide for dynamic branding, that document would
contain various
elements of the branding of the institution that provided the indicia that
pointed to that URL.
The branding elements would be in the set of documents of the starting
document along with
all related documents and files referable from that first document.
While "URL" (Uniform Resource Locator), as described by the Internet
Engineering
Task Force in the document RFC 1738, is the common term for expressing a
complete
reference to a net-based resource, those skilled in the art will appreciate
that this could also
be a "URI" (Uniform Resource Identifier) as described in RFC 2396 or a "URN"
(Uniform
Resource Name) as described in RFC 2141 and therefore throughout this document
where the
term "URL" is used it is to be taken to mean any one of these or similar terms
that describe a
similarly complete reference to a resource.
In addition to embodiments relying upon URL standard addressing means to
locate
elements of this invention, it will be apparent that "URL" can as easily be
replaced, were to
do so would be sensible, with words such as "location", "stored source",
"pointer", "starting
point", "reference", "entry point" or other words, where such infers a
complete reference
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useful for access, retrieval, or a starting point reference to a collection of
machine
interpretable instructions, code, or data in any form.
An organization that has never issued cards before may find the actual
provision of a
URL as part of the information stored on its new user cards to be a desirable
approach.
While having a URL on each card makes access to the starting point for the
branding of that
institution straightforward, the drawbacks are several, particularly for
institutions and
organizations that have previously issued cards. There are an enormous number
of existing
cards in use by consumers which do not currently have URLs on them. The cost
of reissuing
or recoding cards can be significant. Another drawback is that there is no
well-accepted
standardized location for storing a URL on a smart card or on a magnetic card
nor even for
indicating that one is present. Also, a URL can be a significant size in
comparison to the total
amount of data storage possible on a magnetic strip or bar-codable surface
area of a card. So,
while it would be possible to construct a system that could use URLs stored on
indicia, many
aspects of such a system could be proprietary to that system, and there are
some
disadvantages or impediments to its implementation.
The indicia may alternatively contain a numeric representation which can be
manipulated to become or refer to a URL which references desired branding
information of a
member institution.
Cards issued by financial institutions routinely and almost universally
contain a Bank
Identification Number (BIN). A table can be maintained that contains BINs and
the URL
associated with each particular BIN. This table can be stored within the TEM
itself or can be
accessible for lookup over a network connection. When the table is stored at
the TEM, the
copy on each TEM must be updated from time-to-time as new member institutions
are added
or the URL for a particular BIN is changed. Where the table is not stored on
the TEM but is
accessible for a lookup over a network, then responses to frequently used BINS
might be
cached in a variety of fashions on the TEM or in the system in order to
improve system
performance.
A more general approach than using a BIN would be to use the Issuer
Identification
Number (IIN) as described in ISO 7812 for magnetic cards and ISO 7816 for
smart cards.
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These specifications describe the format used for almost all magnetic cards
issued worldwide
and for many smart cards. The specifications and related policy and system of
registration
bodies provide a method of having the Issuer Identification Numbers assigned
in a way that
each is unique on a worldwide basis. The IIN therefore provides an ideal key
for a lookup
table or other similar mechanism for relating a user-provided IIN to an
associated URL
pointing to branding elements.
Other forms of physical ID that the user could provide that could include the
necessary information include:
- a bar code attached to an a item such as a tag on a key chain;
a proximity device such as are frequently used to control building
access;
- some other form of token or identification capable of being machine
read or recognized by the TEM.
Any of these could contain or represent an IIN and optionally additional
useful information.
Another way that a user could provide useful instantiating information to a
translator
system is to enter a cheque or other MICR-encoded material of the desired
institution into the
TEM ("MICR" means Magnetic Ink Character Recognition). This would require that
the
TEM had the ability to read the machine readable coding on the cheque. This
coding
includes a bank routing number that is unique at least over large regions.
Since such a system
is likely to be deployed on a global basis, the bank routing codes may not be
unique. If that
were the case for a particular routing code on a user cheque, then the system
could present to
that user on the display of the TEM a selection of all the institutions
matching that cheque's
routing code and the user could make a selection from that list before
proceeding. A subset
of the branding elements of those matching institutions could be displayed,
such as a small
version of a logo and color scheme, in order to assist such user choice. In
the vast majority of
cases this intermediate step that requires the user to pick the institution
from a list would not
be necessary, and the user would be taken directly to the opening screen
branded for the
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desired institution. The cheque or other MICR-encoded material so presented to
the TEM
could either be returned to the user or kept in the TEM for later secure
disposal.
Another way that necessary identification information to identify the user to
the TEM
can be provided to the TEM by sending the information from a portable device
that is in the
user's possession to the TEM. When the portable device is in close proximity
to the TEM it
can be temporarily operatively connected to the TEM to provide the
identification
information which indicates the desired institution.
Such portable device would have the identification information within it
because it
contained a smart card chip with the information, or it had a card reader of
its own and a user
has inserted a card, or the portable device itself had previously been
provided by the desired
institution with the information pre-stored in it, or the information might at
some time have
been manually or otherwise entered into the device, or entered into the device
by some other
means.
The operative connection between the portable device and TEM might be provided
by
means of a short distance infrared connection. Infrared capabilities are now
common in
portable devices such as hand-held computers, personal digital assistants,
cell phones, PCS
phones and other wireless phones and devices.
The operative connection could also be provided by a short distance radio
frequency
connection between the portable device and the TEM, such as Apple Computer's
"Airport"
(TM) or Lucent Technologies' similar 802.11 "orinoco" (TM) wireless networking
systems or
by a technology known as "Bluetooth" ("Bluetooth" is a TM of
TelefonaktieboLaget L M
Ericsson, Sweden).
In a further embodiment, TEMs can be used as access points for general web
browsing by portable devices that are in the near vicinity. Since some TEMs
will be
equipped with suitable connections to the public Internet these TEMs, when
also equipped
with wireless means, such as Bluetooth, can support users with portable device
that simply
need an Internet access point to perform such activities as email sending and
receiving, and
general web surfing or some subsets of web-based banking transactions. This
capability
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would preferably only be deployed on TEMs that have sufficient network
capacity that they
can support such additional users without degrading the performance
experienced by users
who are using the TEM to conduct transaction sessions with their institution.
The TEM
should preferably limit the number of such sessions that it will allow to be
conducted
simultaneously to be appropriate for the capacity of its network connection.
The payment
facilities of the system can be used to allow these users to be charged for
such uses of the
TEM as an access point. When the portable user first connects to the TEM in
this fashion,
the TEM or the routing and processing portion of the system, will present a
screen where the
user will be advised of the charges for such general web use and will be asked
to provide a
means of payment before proceeding. The means of payment can be a credit card,
bank debit
card, transfer of value electronically or any other means of payment supported
by the system
that the TEM is connected to and that the user has. Payment means can also
include the user
first conducting a transaction session with their institution in order to pre-
authorize a transfer
for the use of the general browsing capabilities enabled through the wireless
access to the
TEM. At conclusion of the user's web session being conducted through the TEM,
the
payment means previously indicated by the user will be charged for the
session. Optionally
an electronic receipt for the session can be provided to the user, by email or
otherwise. Users
that wish to use such facilities frequently can enroll with the system to
speed the logon and
payment setup process by prepaying into an account that will be debited with
each such
session as they use it. In an alternate payment model such use of a TEM as an
access point
could be supported by advertisement that users could agree to see as the
bargain for being
able to receive this free wireless Internet access. The system can increase
the value to
advertisers by providing information on the location of the TEM that user is
using.
Advertisements appropriate for the demographic served by the establishment
where the TEM
is located would be presented. Further, where appropriate and the user has
provided
necessary consent with respect to local privacy laws, the system can use its
knowledge about
the user to further assist advertisers in presenting advertisements and
offerings that will most
likely be of interest to the user.
Any valid web content including by example (and not by limitation): XML, HTML,
WML, gif, jpegs, and applets; could be supported in this scheme. Even content
that is
supported by a plug-in program for a browser could be supported in this
manner. This could
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include such content forms as Shockwave and Flash from Macromedia Corp, Real
Audio and
Real Video from Real Corp, PDF document format from Adobe Systems Inc., and
the like.
For brevity, as previously discussed, when the term "XML" is used it shall be
taken to
include or to be any one of, or all of as appropriate, and which would be
understood by
someone skilled in the art, HTML, XML, WML, SGML or any other similar
"document and
tag" based language including, where appropriate, further content types
including portable
code that these documents can refer to or contain.
An example list of traditional transactions that can be implemented in this
system
between a user and an institution could include actions such as:
- account balance and history queries and reports;
- deposit of cheques or money, issue of receipts, addition to user account
balance;
1 S - cash withdrawal, receipt issue, deduction from user account balance;
- inter-account transfers and bill payments;
- receipt issue, corresponding account balance adjustments; and
- like transactions.
In regards to general applications of the mufti-personality system, the group
of parties
capable of being "institutions" is growing, and thus the identity of the
"user" grows
commensurately to also include those new institutions' customers or those with
whom those
old and new institutions will transact. The number of available types of
transactions also
grows commensurate with the addition of new types of parties, but as well with
the addition
and invention of new types of interactions between users and institutions and
the invention
and introduction of new types of enablements of TEM capabilities. It is
therefore to be
inferred here that "transactions" include all such interactions between such
users and such
institutions as would be understood or inferable by one skilled in the art and
possessed of the
common general knowledge and information in this area of social or commercial
interaction.
Some examples of new "transaction" types might be:
- transfer of loyalty points inter-party;
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- redemption of air miles or other non-currency value items for goods and
services;
- bids, offers and acceptance of novel contract formations, including as well,
reverse auction methods;
- on-line catalogue purchasing;
- on-line fund or value transfers and donations,
- information browsing, query, search, and provision;
- on-line advertisements or survey;
- interactive storytelling;
- ICQ and chat between parties or groups;
and the like.
The translator can be configured to permit as complete control of the TEM and
the
connection between the TEM and institution or the agents of the institution as
though the
I S institution defined, engineered and implemented the system. This is
generally the default
case where a single institution deploys captive ATMs. The transaction
execution system
disclosed herein can provide this type of control on the part of the
institution even though the
TEMs are not captive, while importantly preserving the segregation, co-
operation and inter-
institution security and confidentiality of the branding, control and content
specific to each
participating institution.
Due in part to the potential number and variety of institutions that can
interact with
the transaction execution system and translator, there are many techniques
familiar to those
skilled in the art for caching information or at least the most frequently
used information
which could be employed to improve overall system performance and particularly
the refresh
rate at the user interface.
When the indicia was first read at the interface, likely only a portion of the
indicia
was used to identify the institution. The balance of the indicia would also
have been read and
could have been saved and later made available to a desired identified
institution for
identification and authentication of the user. This can be done in several
ways. When the
URL of the desired institution is accessed the additional information
available from the
indicia can be transmitted as part of the request for a first document. This
can allow the first
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document and/or subsequent documents returned by the institution to be
variably modified
based on the additional data that was sent with the request.
The additional data from the indicia might also or alternatively be made
available to
software in the TEM or the translator in the form of variables that can be
substituted into a
document that is received or can be used to guide the processing of a document
received.
Such variable processing of the document could be accomplished with
JavaScript, Java
applets, vb script [NOTE: "Java" is a trade-mark of Sun Microsystems Inc. and
"vb" is a
short-form of "Visual Basic" a trade-mark of Microsoft Corporation] or other
such portable
languages or scripts, or some combination of these and other similar
techniques. This making
available of additional indicia data to the content of the browser is a
capability useful in
personalizing the content to be specific to the user or class of user, and in
improving
performance of the system as experienced by the user, and to assist the
institution in
presenting information in the manner which it desires. Some examples of the
use of this
additional data when so made available are: presentation in a preferred
language and/or
dialect; presentation in a way that assists users with particular conditions
such as very poor or
non-existent vision; an identification of the user by name or number; an
indication of some
group that the user is part of, such as a gold card club; provision of
particular currency
information.
In one embodiment, the TEM may capture and cache a user's personal preferences
at
that machine to speed transactions at that machine at a next session (caching
most current
branding and user interaction information) and, depending upon local storage
and machine
enablement, may temporarily or semi-permanently store certain user preference
or other user-
related information to speed transactions from a user perspective while
maintaining the
institutions' branding aspect (this is responsive to statistical analysis of
user behavior known
to those skilled in the art that suggest that users of ATMs utilize 2 or at
most 3 ATMs for the
vast majority of their transactions).
Caching may take place systematically as well, if desired, providing for
system-wide
date capture for system performance monitoring and management, as well as
other uses
which will be apparent to the skilled reader in this art.
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Having reached institution, one of the first things that an institution may
then do is to
authenticate the user. This could be done so that the institution has the
confidence that it is
truly the user that is present at the TEM and not just someone who has found
their indicia. In
order to do this the institution may request a user id and password from the
user. If the
supposed identity of the user was contained in the additional data on the
indicia then the user
may simply be asked for a password. In the case of banks and other financial
institutions, the
user would often be asked to, at some early stage in the branded transaction
session, provide a
Personal Identification Number (PIN) which is simply a short numeric password.
One of the advantages of the system described herein is that the timing within
the
session when user authentication takes place, or if it takes place at all, is
optionally under the
control of the selected institution. Selected institutions may authenticate at
the beginning of
the transaction, or only when the user first attempts to access certain
information, or only
when the user is requesting to do some transaction of value. Further, for
particularly
important or high value transactions, the institution might seek additional
information to
assure itself of the authenticity of the user and to prevent repudiation. The
institution could
also choose to require that for certain transaction types, or for high value
transactions, the
user use a TEM with particular capabilities such as one equipped with a camera
or signature
pad, or biometric measuring devices, or different pass phrases or keys.
A number of techniques well known to those skilled in the art are available
for
encryption of passwords or of other session information, or of both, to be
transmitted across
the network connected to the TEM, or to be stored on the TEM or the
server/router to which
the TEM's connected and including the translator and its storage and memory.
Similarly well
known techniques such as with a public key and private key encryption
infrastructure can
also be applied to encrypting all information that flows to or from the TEM
and translator or
such parts as are desirable. Such techniques can be variably employed during
parts of a
session between a user and an institution, at the control of the institution,
or alternatively, as
required by the system operator or in co-operation between the systems'
various participants.
The authorizing authority would typically be the organization responsible for
accounting for, tracking, and replenishing these items of value at that
particular TEM (or a
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group of such TEMs). In systems of traditional bank ATMs and White Label ATMs,
this
would often be called the party that was "driving" the ATM, or the "ATM
driver".
When a request for such a dispense of an item of value is received at such a
TEM, the
TEM will transmit this request to an authorizing authority responsible for
that TEM. Within
this system there may be multiple authorizing authorities but a particular TEM
would
preferably only have one authorizing authority associated with its dispense
functions. That
authorizing authority would likely further communicate the request to an
institution that must
agree to ultimately approve and fund the requested transaction. That ultimate
approver is
typically the institution that holds the account that will be charged for the
dispense about to
be performed. It is possible that another organization may be allowed to
approve such
requests on behalf of that ultimate approver. One type of such alternate
approval is referred
to as "stand-in" approval and may be conducted by the authorizing authority or
automatically
by prior arrangement, typically in circumstances where the authorizing network
is down or
the authorizing institution cannot be reached. It is to be understood that
this discussion holds
for the receipt at a depository provided at the TEM and managed and accounted
for by the
TEM's authorizing authority, which will follow a similar logical transaction
series, for
example instead of changing a user's account, adding to it to deal with said
deposit in
accordance with the institution's rules.
The format of the dispense request from the authorizing authority to the
ultimate
approver might be in any one of a variety of formats or mechanisms that may
have been
established between the authorizing authority and the ultimate approver. That
format may be
different from the format in which that authorizing authority received the
request from the
TEM, and it would in that case be the responsibility of the authorizing
authority to translate
as necessary between the different formats and schemes.
The common scheme in use to obtain authorization from the ultimate approver
varies
from industry to industry and even by institution within an industry. Within
the banking
community, for example, requests for authorization and approval is often done
using a
derivative of the ISO 8583 standard.
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It is preferable for the TEM to transmit authorization requests to the
authorizing
authority in the form of ISO 8583 messages. One approach is for the
authorization requests
and related responses to be sent between the TEM and authorizing authority in
a form where
the message numbers, fields within messages, field contents and the meaning of
all these are
in compliance with or similar to the ISO 8583 standard but the encoding,
representation and
other aspects of the form and format of the data is in a document conforming
to the XML
standard. Such documents can be exchanged between the TEM and authorizing
authority
using the http or secure http (hops) protocol, or any other communications
protocol that can
be made to work.
If the request is authorized, then one document is next accessed by the
browser, and if
the request is declined then an alternate document is accessed by the browser.
The appropriate document to be accessed, based upon the response to the
request for
authorization, may have been communicated to the TEM within a prior document
accessed
by the browser as part of its configuration.
Further, there can be multiple documents that could be accessed, where the one
next
accessed is dependant upon a results code contained in the response to said
dispense
authorization request. Additionally, the results code and other information
contained in such
a response can be made available to browser software on the TEM in a way that
it can be
substituted into the next page to be displayed, or used in processing the next
page.
If the TEM fails to receive a response to a request for authorization within a
certain
period of time, then the software in the TEM can cause the browser to load a
document where
the URL of said document was supplied in a previous document. Again, a
variable indicating
that this "timeout" has occurred will be made available in the browser to
control desired
subsequent parts of that user transaction session.
Since in a dynamically branded transaction execution system, there are a
multitude of
member institutions and a multitude of TEM owners, it is preferable to charge
fees to the
member institution based upon the use of TEMs by their customers. The system
of this
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invention could track usage and account for and charge for use. If TEMs were
to be leased to
institutions for the duration of sessions, they could be charged a lease fee.
The revenue from the various fees, including the difference on sale and
repurchase,
could be distributed amongst the providers of the system and some or all of:
the operator of
the communication systems; the entity on whose premises the TEM is located;
the entity that
owns the TEM; the entity responsible for the maintenance of the TEM; and the
operator of
the routing and switching means.
The system can be made to track the usage of consumable items within the TEM
including such items as paper, currency, coupons, general usage counters, ink,
toner and the
like, as well as other resource utilization such as screen display time,
number of transactions,
communications usage by time or volume, or otherwise, for billing, audit and
maintenance
purposes including predictive maintenance. One method of doing this is for the
TEM to track
its usage during each session and then at the end of the session transmit this
information to
the servers of the organization responsible for billing for the use of the
system. This
information could also be sent practically simultaneously to all properly
interested parties so
that they can perform their own reconciliation, audit and billing and other
functions using that
information. These other interested parties would include at least one of the
owner of the
TEM, the institution that conducted a transaction, the system's billing
organization, the
operator of the routing and switching means, and the operator of the TEM.
Subsets of the
information could be provided as appropriate to preserve commercial
confidentiality and user
privacy. For example the maintenance operator for a TEM could be interested in
knowing
the total paper usage within a TEM so equipped but may not have a need to know
which
institutions accounted for what usage, or which users transacted with the TEM.
Alternatively, usage information could be stored in the TEM or elsewhere in
the
system for a period of time and then, periodically or upon request,
communicated to the
appropriate parties.
The system can differentially charge or credit its participants for each
service
provided, or can allocate various priority uses to TEMs at various times or
locations.
Additionally, the system may reallocate resources or may re-configure
available TEM
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capabilities, or otherwise tailor the available transaction sets to balance
resource utilization
by Institutions and their users, and further, can differentially charge for
its actions and
services based upon usage, location, time, resource utilization and otherwise.
In addition, the system can accomplish or encourage optimum TEM and system
utilization without restricting the transactions performed by the user by
making information
about the charges associated with any particular branding actions at any
particular time and
location available to the branding content (provided by the institution)
immediately in
advance of the content causing the configuration of the TEM, and at multiple
and repeated
points during the session whenever the branding content requests the then-
current status,
including causing some transaction element to displayed, such that the
branding content may
make certain transaction types, data or options available only to selected
users at selected
times or locations, based upon that information and the branding content's
embedded
instructions dealing with that subject-matter.
The system may charge differently for various permutations of services and
benefits
provided, such as (but not limited to) the encryption and logging of certain
types of
transaction data, which might bear a higher charge than unencrypted or un-
logged
transactions or data.
It was described previously how a portable device in operative connection to
the TEM
could be the source of identifying information necessary to begin a branded
session on the
TEM with an institution. In a further embodiment of the system the portable
device could
also be used to conduct all or part of the actual session with the
institution, with the portable
device using the TEM as a connection point to make use of the TEM's network
connections
in order to be able to communicate with the desired institution. A user could
use the input
capabilities, typically a set of keys or buttons, on the portable device to
make entries and
indicate selections. The member institution's system could be displayed on the
portable
device to the extent appropriate to that device and as permitted or desired by
that institution.
All or a part of the provided transaction may be accomplished on the portable
device or on
the portable device and the TEM, dependent upon user requirements and user
capabilities. Of
course, privacy concerns would be dealt with in the accessibility or view-
ability of
information on these various devices to ensure optional user experience.
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A number of users with portable devices might simultaneously use a TEM in this
fashion. Further, these users of portable devices can be using the TEM
substantially
simultaneously with a user using the TEM directly.
One approach to support conducting transmissions on portable devices, is for
the
TEM to contain one or more browsers where one browser accesses a first XML
document at
the URL associated with said desired member institution as indicated by the
portable user and
said document and any documents and files to which said document points
contain the
transaction of said desired institution, and said branding is presented to the
user on the
portable device.
Translation of the content to a format supported at the portable device can be
done in
a variety of ways:
a. a translator in the TEM can perform the translation or "clipping";
b. a translator in the member institution can provide a set of contents
suitable for the
interface of the portable;
c. the member institution's custom programming can perform the translation or
"clipping"; or
d. a translator in the processing and routing system can provide a service to
do those
things in (a) through (c) above.
A second approach to conducting transactions directly on portable devices is
for the
TEM to simply act as a network access point and data muter so that the session
at the
transport level (e.g. TCP or WDP) is taking place between the portable and, as
appropriate,
the processing system and the desired institution. A second TEM with no
network
connection of its own could use wireless means to obtain its operative
connections through
another TEM which does have operative network connections for communication
with
member institutions and authorizing authorities.
A further embodiment of the mufti-personality transaction system is in
conjunction
with a loyalty system or systems. The system can generate information that is
useful to such
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loyalty systems. A user may present a loyalty card or similar indicia as
discussed herein that
will allow them to use the system to interact with the provider of that
loyalty system for a
variety of purposes including: seeing their account status; viewing
transaction history;
viewing points balance; seeing available awards or offers; requesting
particular awards or
merchandise; locating participating merchants.
The system as described herein can make use of Customer Relationship
Management
systems and can generate information that is useful for these systems. The
system can
capture and make data available to data mining applications. These activities
could be
limited to the extent necessary and formed in ways that are in accordance to
the appropriate
legal jurisdiction and in compliance with the agreements with the various
participants.
Also anticipated is that the system may have information about a particular
user that
would be useful to an institution. The information could come from several
sources
including one or more of: a CRM system, a data mining system, history of past
use by the
user, information previously provided by user themselves (for example
information entered
by the user at an associated web site, described herein.), information
obtained from other
sources. This information may be made available to the institution in a way
that allows the
institution to tailor what they present to the user. This information may be
made available in
variables in the TEM in a way that they can be read by the content of the
institution as it is
executing on the TEM. Alternatively, it can be made available such that during
the session
the institution can make a query requesting this information and this
information would be
returned in the response to this query. The technological form of storing this
information,
querying it and responding to these queries could take many forms that will be
evident to
those skilled in the art. The methods could be by way of example but not
limited to: LDAP,
message queues, Java beans (TM Sun Microsystems Inc.), various middleware or
APIs.
Another embodiment of the mufti-personality transaction system is for
advertising or
other informational purposes. During "standby" mode, in a wait site, when the
TEM is not
being utilized by a user to perform a transaction, it will be configured to
display content
which is not necessarily provided by or for a member institution, and which is
not "branding"
content in the sense disclosed here. Rather, in standby mode, the TEM may be
configured in
accordance with instructions provided by means of the router/switch, which may
be stored at
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the TEM, at the router/switch, or elsewhere on the system pending its
retrieval by the TEM.
Such standby mode configurations can include, by way of example, advertising
for member
institutions or others, information kiosk-style functionality such as merchant
catalogue
browser, location/map service, product demonstration information, product or
service
specifications, in-store location query and mapping response, coupon or other
value item
dispensing which does not require the identity of the user or of a user
account, direction-
giving, reference to other locations or services, passive or interactive other
displays such as
games, contests, questionnaires or surveys, or the like. From the configured
activities in
standby mode available by operation of a dynamically branded TEM system as
disclosed
here, it may be seen that there are a variety of services the revenue from
which the TEM
owner, the member institutions, the router/switch provider and the network
provider can
share or otherwise deal with.
When a system-included TEM is used by a customer of a non-member institution,
screens and other branding information in such a generic mode may not be
specific to an
individual institution, and the generic mode can still utilize the fundamental
aspects of the
dynamic branding system to increase the utility of the transaction session. In
one example,
an ATM deployer, merchant or the operator of the system could enable a user to
express a
language preference from a range of available choices, and the system can
display all the
"generic" functionality (without specific branding) in the language of the
user's choice.
Further, the system can record the preferences expressed by the user as
entered either at the
TEM or through some other means or at some other time, and recall those
preferences to
modify the TEM's configuration.
The system as described wherein can be used where, without identifying a
desired
institution of the user, said user may use a TEM as an information kiosk. This
is done simply
by making a choice of one of the selections available on the "idle" or standby
screen of the
TEM. The content for the various segments of information or services available
on this kiosk
mode can be stored within the TEM or may be stored on a server accessible over
a network,
as is appropriate for the nature, timeliness and size of the content and or
the capabilities of the
TEM. Some or all of these information kiosk selections can be made unavailable
at times
when the TEM is being heavily used or to otherwise optimize the TEM's use.
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Another embodiment of the present invention, is in conjunction with users
having a
multiple of card-based or otherwise accessible accounts or relationships, such
as financial
institution, credit card, debit card, loyalty card, frequent flier card,
discount card, and other
accounts or relationships maintained by a variety of institutions, some of
which may be
member institutions.
It is proposed that, by operation of the configurable TEM system with
router/switch,
network, translator and configuration systems, a user could provide the user's
information for
more than one user account (for example, swiping a card for each account), and
that
information (including, by example, an electronically replicable
representation of the
magnetic card medium's stored information) would be stored by the system such
that, when
desired, the user could make user's identity known (for example, swiping any
of the cards for
any of the stored accounts, or by providing other user identification such as
an identity
number or token issued by and recognizable to the system) to a system-enabled
TEM and be
provided with a listing of that user's accounts or relationship, from which
listing the user
could choose which account or relationship to proceed with to perform a
transaction series.
It may be that no password or PIN information for any account would be stored
on the
system, such that the only component of the typical user-system transaction
which would
have been stored for future automated use (essentially by emulation of the
information part of
the transaction) would be the initial card-swipe (or similar) information
providing step of the
transaction, thus the security provided by the PIN system (or other
equivalent) would not be
compromised, although such an alternative is possible.
In one embodiment, the account inputting portion of the set-up of this "macro-
account" would include the step of issuing a new card or other physical medium
upon which
the user's identity (useful to the system) would be issued. This new physical
medium might
be by way of mag-card, smart-card, bar-coded card, RF-enabled smart-card, or
other token or
device. Alternatively, a user might be issued a number or manually re-keyable
or enterable
indicia. Alternatively, a user might be measured in some biometric sense (such
as voice-
print, retinal scan, thumb or finger print, or other identifying way, or in
some combination),
which when recognized later would provide for display of a "pick-list" of
enabled user
accounts or institution relationships at a TEM.
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In another embodiment, from the pick-list provided to the user, more than one
user
account might be chosen with which the user might interact. This would, for
example, enable
a traditional style of value withdrawal from a first account, the storage or
buffering of the
value withdrawn, and the subsequent deposit of the value to a second account
or a plurality of
other accounts. At some steps during this "macro-account" interactive
function, there may be
branding by the institution with whom each account is kept. The second account
might
consist of a variety of value recipients such as a cash withdrawal of a
portion of the value, a
bill-payment with a portion of the value, the printing of a ticket, receipt,
coupon, voucher or
other thing of value in exchange for a portion of the value, the wiring of
funds for a portion of
the value, or the printing of a cashier's cheque or draft payable to a third
party or to "bearer"
or a traveler's cheque style of instrument for a further portion of the value.
As can be seen,
these examples and others, in many combinations and permutations, can serve as
the basis of
a new and improved use of a TEM suitably configured, to deal with the
"unbanked" as well
as the "mufti-banked" end-user, in particular if the first thing of value is
cash or some
provable value instrument recognizable by the TEM for its receipt to the
credit of the
depositing user (or to the credit of the single anonymous transaction
session).
The system could also allow value transfer to emerging payment systems such as
Paypal --
http://www.paypal.com.
In another embodiment, from the mufti-account inter-account transaction
display, two
or mores users might transfer value from one account of one user to another
account of
another user. This might be accomplished by allowing a first user to enter a
mufti-account
session by card-swipe, macro-account submission, or otherwise identifying the
user and the
desired account, and the desire to enter a mufti-user mufti-account session,
and the
subsequent entry of a second user's account and user identification to the
system, with the
other transaction steps being essentially as set out in the single-user inter-
account value
transaction.
As well as the macro identity, which can provide for the identification of a
user to the
system, and of that user's various accounts at member and non-member
institutions, the
system, method and apparatus described herein may also provide the capability
at the TEM
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for a user to perform during a single transaction session a variety of
transactions including the
withdrawal from a user account at one institution and the subsequent deposit
at that user's
account at another institution (or another user's account at any institution),
which may as well
provide as a benefit the instant acceptance of the said deposit without any
holding or
clearance process or time delay by the recipient institution, by additional
example, by
guarantee of the system operator to the recipient institution of the funds or
value, since said
operator would have obtained authorization or cash from the institution from
whose account
the value was initially withdrawn.
In a further embodiment, the mufti-personality transaction system could have a
web
site associated with it. The uses of this web site could include one or more
of the following:
- A user enrolling themselves to the web site and related system (this may
have
to be completed at a TEM that provides additional user identification
capabilities such as a signature pad, a camera to capture the users image,
biometric id capability, depending upon the use).
- A user viewing and printing previous transaction conducted at TEMs in the
system.
- A user setting and changing preferences for use when the user is using a TEM
that is part of this system.
- A user placing certain restrictions on their information or its use.
- A user finding the location of publicly accessible TEMs including locating
just
the ones with a particular capability, such as signature pad or depository,
that
the user intends to use.
- A user enrolling and setting up a macro account (also known macro identity)
as described herein.
- A user setting up transactions, including without limitation, purchases,
large
transfers, service cancellations, service enrolment, which require the user to
later complete them by authorizing them when present at a TEM suitably
configured for the level of authorization security needed for the particular
type
of transaction.
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In a further embodiment of the system, a portable TEM can be used to setup a
transaction that is meant to be completed at a later time at another TEM which
has more
capabilities. For example, a user may request to receive cash or to deposit an
item when they
are at a TEM that does not have the ability to dispense cash or receive such
deposit of a
physical item. The user can be provided with a receipt or code or other means
such that later
when the user is at a TEM that did have requisite cash dispensing or deposit
taking capability
they could use this receipt or code or other means to receive the cash or
otherwise complete
the transaction. Another example of why a user may be required to complete a
transaction at
a TEM with additional capability, is that an institution may wish to finalize
a transaction only
when additional means of identification is provided such as by way of
capturing an image of
the user, signing and then depositing a form printed on the TEM, entering a
signature on a
signature pad, authenticating the user by some biometric means, or
authenticating the user by
other means.
Referring to Figure 1, a transaction execution system 8 includes a plurality
of
transaction execution machines, hereafter referred to as TEMs 10, connected to
a processing
and routing system 12. The switch system 12 interconnects the TEMs 10 with a
plurality of
member institutions 14, including but not limited to financial institutions
such as banks and
brokerage houses, and non-financial institutions such as merchant
organizations and
individual outlets thereof. A database 13 can be used by the TEMs 10 for
required
information. Alternatively, the router I2 may also have access to a database
13a containing
the information. This however, depends on the latency and bandwidth of the
link to the TEM
10.
The TEM 10, shown in Figure 2, includes an identification device 16
(preferably a
card reader), a user interface 18, and a material device 20 for providing and
optionally
receiving materials to and from a customer (not shown) respectively, such as
but not limited
to cash withdrawals and deposits, cheques, coupons cards or stored value
cards, a plurality of
transactions requiring a proximity of physical media or storage devices to the
system 8,
product information and advertising, plus any other transactions and
communication to the
maximum extent permitted by the technology and capability of the member
institutions 14 to
which the balance of system 8 is ultimately connected. The plurality of
transactions may not
necessarily involve a transfer of a physical entity, for example money could
be transferred to
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a stored value card. A data storage module 15 may be used to keep on site
transaction
records and may also be used to store the identity and/or functionality of the
user interface 18
defined by the member institutions 14.
The user interface 18 of the preferred embodiment, shown in Figure 3, is used
to
communicate desired information between the customer using the TEM 10 and any
of the
member institutions 14 sharing the transaction execution system 8. Different
forms of
communication include a display 22 and a keypad, touch pad 24 or touch screen,
or any
combination of user input devices known in the art for the entering of
numerical information,
non-numerical information, and the selection of presented options, including
by measurement
of user biometrics at or available to the TEM. In addition, an audio system
26, a video
system 28, and/or a keyboard 30 may also be included if desired. The user
interface 18
facilitates the dynamic branding of the TEM 10 with the identity and or
functionality defined
by the member institutions 14 or other businesses at any given time. Multiple
displays may
be used in the TEM 10, some of which may be dedicated as a static sign similar
to those in
conventional captive ATMs.
In operation of the transaction execution system 8, the user's desired
institutions, is
first identified based on identification information obtained from the user by
the identification
device 16, which in the case of a card reader is accomplished by entering a
card in the device
16. The TEM 10 uses the identification information to connect by the switch
system 12 to
the member institutions 14 thus coupled. The user interface 18 is subsequently
modified
according to identity and/or functionality to a full service transaction
machine. The TEM 10
preferably provides the full service desired by that customer. Once the
customer is finished a
transaction session, the TEM 10 can revert to a standby mode, or wait state,
and is ready for
interaction with another customer. During this standby mode a user may, with
or without
providing identification or being identified, use the TEM 10 as an information
kiosk, if
desired.
In an additional embodiment, the customer may through the user interface 18
create a
macro account which relates the user to two or more institutions 14 of which
the user is a
customer or participant. The user may subsequently conduct a macro account
transaction
whereby the customer can access a plurality of accounts from different member
institutions
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14 as though each of the accounts were all held at one combined institution.
The user can
conduct transfers of value between an account at one institution and a second
account at a
second institution. The term macro account and macro identity are
interchangeable herein.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a macro function that allows
transactions between cards and/or accounts belonging to different people, such
as between
spouses and friends. It is not necessary that both people be at the same TEM
at the same time.
The design and behavior of the user interface 18 may be tailored to the needs
of the customer.
This may be done by institutions 14 or also by the routing system 12 or by the
TEM 10. The
system 8 may also provide tailoring for macro users and generic users in
addition to the
tailoring supplied by member institutions 14. Examples of this additional
system tailoring
include: a tailored system identity that could be one, or a combination of
more than one of the
user's identities with individual member institutions 14; the case where the
system 8 provides
information about itself or its member institutions, to any person who is not
known at that
stage to be a customer of any member institution 14.
In a further embodiment, shown in Figure 4, a plurality of external devices 30
may be
connected to the execution system 8. The devices 30 can include but are not
limited to a
portable TEM such as a cell phone, a lap top, or a personal computing device,
a third party
transaction system, or the like. The overall character of the transactions on
the external
device 30, where it is a TEM 10, as well as the type and the number of
possible transactions
thereon is only limited by the capabilities of the user interface 18 of such
device 30. A
connection 32 between the device 30 and system 12 is accomplished preferably
by a modem,
wireless connection, or the like. The connection 32 can also be made via the
Internet, private
intranet, through many associated networks, or any other communications
device, or
combination of devices, capable of facilitating the required data transfer.
This embodiment
allows the user to conduct a plurality of transactions from a location chosen
by the customer
on an interface controlled and branded at the direction of a member
institution 14.
In another embodiment, shown in Figure 5, the execution system 8 contains TEMs
10
connected by the router 12 to a plurality of traditional financial transaction
networks 32. The
networks 32 and device 30 in turn are connected to member financial
institutions 14A. This
arrangement provides for the execution system 8 to be connected to already
existing or newly
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established networks 32, rather than directly to individual member
institutions 14A, to effect
desired transactions on TEMs 10 with selective numbers of such institutions
14A.
In a further embodiment shown in Figure 6, a number of TEMs 10A, IOB, IOC, lOD
S and l0E are operatively connected by the routing and processing system 12 to
member
institutions 14A, 14B and 14C. The TEMs 10A, lOB and lOC are connected to the
routing
and processing system 12 by means of a network 40. Additional TEMs l OD and
l0E are on a
differently configured network 45 and are preferably connected to the same
routing and
processing system 12. The routing and processing system 12 is further
connected by means
of a third network 50 to member institutions 14A and 14B and to member
institution 14C by
means of the a fourth network 55. The routing and processing system 12 can
perform routing
and, as necessary, translation between TEMs 10A, lOB and lOC on network 40,
where it is
for example a wireless WAP based network, and the member institutions 14A, 14B
and 14C
on network 50 which is for example an IP based intranet. It should be noted
that more than
I S one router 12 can be used in the system 8, if desired.
In a separate example, the same Figure 6 can be used to illustrate that if
network 45
were an IP based network and the network 50 were also an IP based network, the
networks
are the same type and data flowing between one TEM l0E and one member
institution 14B
would merely need to be routed and may not need to be translated. If the
database 13A
contained the table for relating institution identifiers to member institution
information
locators being URLs, then TEM l0E could provide this data in a request to the
routing and
processing system 12 which would respond with the URL for the transaction
information of
member institution 14B, which could be at that same member institution 14B.
The session
between l0E and 14B would then proceed where only the packet based routing
capability of
12 would be used during the session. However, if that same TEM l0E was to
begin a session
with member institution 14C, which can only perform transaction by means of an
network 55
of a different type, by way of example only in a legacy consortium system
using ISO 8583
messages over an X.25 network, part of its transaction could be served by the
routing and
processing system l2and the session would proceed as follows. The TEM l0E
would send a
request to the routing and processing system 12 containing the identification
for member
institution 14C. The routing and processing system 12 would respond with a
URL, which for
member institution 14C's transaction system is in this example located within
storage at
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router 12. The TEM l0E would then begin the session with router 12 and router
12 would,
where necessary, convert transaction requests to ISO 8583 and send them via
X.25 on
network 55 to institution 14C. Responses from member institution 14C received
over
network 55 by system 12 would be translated to XML over TCP/IP to be sent over
network
S 45 to TEM 10E.
In a further embodiment, also represented in Figure 5, the execution system 8
is
connected to one or more Authorizing Authorities 31. Each Authorizing
Authority is
responsible for managing the items of value in one or more TEMs 10. A given
type of item
of value (for example cash) in a given TEM 10 is typically managed by the
Authorizing
Authority 31. The TEM 10 can receive authorization for transactions involving
items of
value either by a connection from the Authorizing Authority 31 to the relevant
institution, or
by using the connections that the system muter 12 has with all parties.
The branding content within the TEM 10 initiates a transaction request for the
dispensing of an item of value from the TEM 10. The TEM 10 determines that the
transaction requires approval by an Authorizing Authority 31. The TEM 10
creates a
message based on the transaction request and sends the message to the system
router 12. The
system router 12 determines which Authorizing Authority 31 is responsible for
approving
transactions of that type from that specific TEM 10. The system router and its
translatorl2
translates the message if necessary to a format appropriate to the Authorizing
Authority 31,
and sends the message to the Authorizing Authority 31. The Authorizing
Authority 31
determines which institution 14 with which to authorize the transaction.
The Authorizing Authority 31 can have a direct or indirect connection to the
institution 14A, and the Authorizing Authority 31 may translate the request if
necessary to a
message and/or format appropriate to the institution 14A and send the request
to the
institution 14A. The institution 14A determines whether the request will be
accepted,
modified, or denied. The institution 14A sends the response back to the
Authorizing
Authority 31. The Authorizing Authority translates the response if necessary,
and in turn
accepts, accepts with modifications, or denies the transaction, sending a
response to the
system router 12. The system router 12 translates the response if necessary,
and sends the
response to the TEM 10.
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In yet another example, as shown in Figure 5, instructions within a translator
in the
TEM 10 can initiate a transaction request for the dispensing of an item of
value from the
TEM 10. The TEM 10 determines that the transaction requires approval by an
Authorizing
Authority 31. The TEM 10 creates a message based on the transaction request
and sends the
message to the system muter 12. The system router 12 determines which
Authorizing
Authority 31 is responsible for approving transactions of that type from that
specific TEM 10.
The system router 12 translates the message if necessary to a format
appropriate to the
Authorizing Authority 31, and sends the message to the Authorizing Authority
31. The
Authorizing Authority 31 determines which institution with which to authorize
the
transaction.
The Authorizing Authority 31 translates the request if necessary to a message
and/or
format appropriate to the system router 12, and sends the request to the
system router 12
directed to the institution 14A. The system router 12 translates the request
if necessary to a
message and/or format appropriate to one of the plurality of financial
transaction networks 32
that connect directly or indirectly to the desired institution 14A. The
transaction network 32
routes the request to the institution 14A. The institution 14A determines
whether the request
will be accepted, modified, or denied. The institution 14A sends the response
back to the
financial transaction network 32. The financial transaction network 32 sends
the response to
the system router 12 directed to the Authorizing Authority 31. The system
router 12
translates the response if necessary to a message and/or format appropriate to
the Authorizing
Authority 31. The Authorizing Authority 31 translates the response if
necessary, and in turn
accepts, accepts with modifications, or denies the transaction, sending a
response to the
system muter 12 directed to the initiating TEM 10. The system router 12
translates the
response if necessary, and sends the response to the TEM 10. This alternative
provides a way
to reduce or eliminate the multiple connections between many or every of the
plurality of
Authorizing Authorities 31 and the plurality of financial transaction networks
32 and
institutions 14.
In a further embodiment, the transaction execution system 8 is used by virtual
institutions, such as virtual banks and or merchant organizations that do not
have traditional
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brick-and-mortar locations. This allows these virtual institutions to have, in
effect, multiple
TEMs 10 provided by the system 8, tailored to the needs of the individual
virtual institutions.
In an additional embodiment, the customer may through the user interface 18
create a
macro account which relates the user to two or more institutions 14 during the
same
transaction session, of which the user is a customer or participant. The user
may
subsequently conduct a macro account transaction whereby the customer can
access a
plurality of accounts from different member institutions 14 as though each of
the accounts
were all held at one combined institution. The user can conduct transfers of
value between an
account at one institution and a second account at a second institution. The
term macro
account and macro identity are interchangeable herein.
A macro function can allow transactions between cards and/or accounts
belonging to
different people, such as between spouses and friends. It is not necessary
that both people be
at the same TEM 10 at the same time.
Referring to Figure 8, the transaction might be sequentially done, or the
representation
of the transaction on the TEM's display (22) might include sub-components
(310, 320, 330)
of the display (22) to the user which were branded, surrounded or contextually
inter-related
by a representation of a mufti-brand, mufti-account transaction scheme (such
as -in a
metaphorical sense- by animated arrows (310) or other indication of "movement"
of "value
representations" from one "account location" (320) to another (330) in Drawing
Fig. 8.
The design and behavior of the user interface 18 may be tailored to the needs
of the
customer. This may be done by institutions 14 or also by the routing system 12
or by the
TEM 10. The system 8 may also provide tailoring for macro users and generic
users in
addition to the tailoring supplied by member institutions 14. Examples of this
additional
system tailoring include: a tailored system identity that could be one, or a
combination of
more than one of the user's identities with individual member institutions 14;
the case where
the system 8 provides information about itself or its member institutions, to
any person who
is not known at that stage to be a customer of any member institution 14.
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It should be noted that one benefit of the present invention is that member
institutions
14 can provide customer access to full service TEMs 10 over a large shared
network of
dynamically branded TEMs 10, while preserving the ability of each member
institution 14 to
control, brand, and benefit from their customers interaction with the system
8. The system 8,
in addition to financial transactions, can also be used with other types of
transactions
including the issuing of royalty coupons, product information, and the
gathering of data for
loyalty or other marketing cross-marketing or commercial purposes. This
customer data,
collected by specific member institutions 14, or by the routing system 12,
could be shared
with other member institutions 14, or others, if desired.
Although the invention has been described with reference to certain specific
embodiments, various modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilled
in the art
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as outlined in
the claims
appended hereto.
SINTON, JOHN and Page 66 of 67 TEM WITH USER PROXY AND MIDDLEWARE
MCNAUGHTON,ALAN
