Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-23
2002-08-13
Lee, Michael G (Department: 2876)
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
C235S382000, C235S472020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06431439
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an information storage and transmission system, and more specifically to a method and system for storing financial transactions in a portable unit for later transmission to a terminal unit, such as a personal computer, an automatic teller machine (ATM), or a terminal used for other transactions, such as a terminal at a department store used for point-of-sale transactions.
Over the past few years, more and more people and businesses have begun using personal computers to run software accounting applications that record and organize their financial transactions. These accounting systems, such as Quicken and Excel, can organize a person's finances by, for example, establishing different accounts based on debits and credits, personal and business expenses, or tax and non-tax expenditures. Various accounts may be established which include credit card accounts, checking accounts, asset accounts (e.g., stocks and real estate), and liability accounts (e.g., mortgage and other payable loans). After these accounts have been established and data inputted into them, the user of these accounting packages can generate charts and graphs that track the user's expenditures and help the user plan payment schedules and investment strategies.
In order to effectively use these software accounting applications, consumers need to keep accurate records of their daily financial transactions. In today's era of multiple different financial transactions, such as telebanking, ATM transactions, credit card transactions, and checking transactions, it has become increasingly difficult for a user to keep an accurate paper record of all of his financial transactions. In addition, even if a user was able to keep a paper copy of all of the deposit slips, ATM receipts, sales receipts, and check registers, he must still type all of this information into the software accounting program to make use of the tools provided by the software accounting program.
For example, when a user writes a check, he must write down the information about the check, such as the check number, the date, the payee, and the amount in a checkbook. Then, when running the software accounting program, the user must input all of this data about the check into the personal computer running the software accounting program. Only after this information is entered into the program to reflect all of the activity in his account can the software package give meaningful information to the user, such as an accurate account balance, a chart showing actual expenditures for a given month a given item, or a table showing, for example, taxable and non-taxable income to date.
Most users are equally interested in tracking other financial transactions in addition to check writing. For example, when a user deducts money from his account using an ATM machine, he would also like to record that transaction. As described above, the user may again desire to input this data into the software accounting program on his personal computer so the accounting program can produce graphical and tabular data about his finances. Once again the user must manually input the data relating to the ATM transaction, such as the account number and the amount of the withdrawal, into the software accounting package. In addition, when a user travels to a department store, he may wish to make a note of any credit-card transactions and record these transactions so that he can manually enter the transactions into his software accounting program. A user must also record financial information at a point-of-sale, e.g., a store or other place of business. For the same reasons discussed above, the user may wish to electronically record this information so that he can later transfer it to a host PC or other terminal unit. In addition, a user may wish to purchase items from a vendor who demands immediate payment. The vendor may also, for example, not wish to pay merchant fees associated with a credit card or other transaction method that does not immediately transfer funds to his account.
The repetitive nature of this method of manual financial transaction record keeping is easily seen by the following example. First, the user must find his checkbook register in which he wrote the information about the check. The user then must type in a password to the accounting software to identify himself as an authorized user and thus grants him access to the financial data. Once the accounting software has verified the user's identity, the user must go to the appropriate data fields in the software application and manually enter the financial transaction information, such as the date of the check, the check number, a transaction code (e.g., debit), the amount of the check, and the name of the person the check was made out to (e.g., payee). Although the user wrote down all of this information in the checkbook when he wrote the check, he must manually enter it into the computer using the computer keyboard. He must then repeat the manual entry of data for each check that he wrote since he last entered a transaction into the program. The repetitive task of entering these transactions into a personal computer (PC) is even more complicated when several different checking accounts are used.
Some conventional products allow a user to electronically record only some information about their financial transactions. For example, some of these products may keep a running account balance. These products do not store important information about each transaction, such as the check number, payee, or category (i.e., a transaction code), that allow the user to summarize and keep a separate running balance for each category. These conventional systems also do not allow the financial information they store to be easily electronically transferred to an accounting software application.
Other conventional hardware products which include an accounting system include personal digital assistants (PDAs) and organizers. The PDAs are handheld computer-based systems which are programmed to run a variety of applications programs, such as Pocket Quicken. To access the accounting system on these devices, the user must press a series of keys on a keypad or use an expensive touch screen to scroll through a list of options. After selecting the accounting program, the user may manual input his account and financial transaction information using a miniature keypad. As discussed below, these devices do not allow the financial information stored on them to be easily transferred to a PC or other system for later processing.
Other hardware products use read only memory (ROM) devices to store their applications so that the programs which are stored on these products cannot be easily changed or updated. Like the PDAs described above, these products also run software accounting applications like Pocket Quicken. These products, like PDAs also require that the user manually input all of the financial data using a keypad. In addition, these products also do not allow information stored on them to be easily transferred to a PC or other system for later processing. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a system and method for electronically entering handwritten and digital data about a plurality of financial transactions into a handheld computer which may be integrated with other financial data recorders, such as a checkbook, to limit the number of items a user must carry when making financial transactions.
Once a user has stored information about financial transactions in a handheld unit, he may want to transfer this information to a terminal unit, which may be a PC, an ATM, or any other terminal unit. If the terminal unit is connected to a relational database, it can provide many accounting capabilities to non-PC users. In addition, it is advantageous to enter financial transactions information into a PC for several reasons. The PC generally has more processing power and can run accounting application programs, like Quicken or Excel, more quickly and efficiently than a hand-held accoun
Sommers David
Stanley Howard
Suer Myles P.
Lee Michael G
Personal Solutions Corporation
Steins & Associates
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