Patents & the Financial Services Industry

Network solutions and mobile data management provider Tekelec was awarded U.S. Pat. 7,756,788 on July 13, 2010.  The patent is directed to performing sales transactions using a mobile devices without using the text messaging or paging capabilities.  The claim recites using a voice call from a mobile communications subscriber – rather than a text message or page –to verify and complete the transaction.

The day before the patent was to issue, the applicant filed a petition to withdraw the case from issue.

Also on July 13, 2010, another patent issued – this one to American Express Travel Related Services Company – by the same Examiner as the Tekelec patent and in the same field, namely performing transactions between parties at remote locations. U.S. Pat. 7,756,785.

On September 1, 2009, U.S. Patent Nos. 7,584,133 and 7,584,134 issued to Weather Risk Solutions LLC of Palm Beach, Florida.  The patents are entitled “Financial Activity Based on Tropical Weather Events” and “Graphical user interface for financial activity concerning tropical weather events” respectively, and they appear protect Weather Risk’s commodity option called Hurricane Risk Landfall Options.

The inventions provide for a financial activity network that allows participants to submit their prediction as to the point of landfall and/or point along the land track of a future strike of a natural event such as a hurricane or tropical cyclone.  If their predictions match the observed natural event, the successful, qualifying investors will share in the accumulated pooling of investment funds.

The natural event may be observed by an external objective independent information source whose observations, findings and conclusions are made available to the financial activity. The financial activity can include games of chance, games of skill, property value protection, derivative securities interests and secondary trading of financial assets by participants engaged in the financial activity.

After asserting its patent for encrypted data transmissions (U.S. Patent No. 5,412,730) against over 20 banks and major credit card companies, TQP Development reached an agreement with American Express Travel Related Services to settle the dispute.  TQP initially filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on March 25, 2009.

The Defendants include Barclays Bank, Prudential, Amazon,.com, Visa, and many more.  TQP previously settled the matter with MasterCard back in June and with Amazon.com in July.  This month is American Express.

U.S. Patent No. 7,574,392 issued today and is entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INVESTMENT USING A DEED OF TRUST OR MORTGAGE INSTRUMENT.”

The invention relates to investment management of funds under contract that is customarily conducted by a registered investment advisor or a licensed money manager.  The claims are directed to a method and apparatus an aspect of the invention that replaces or supplements the traditional fixed income allocation of investments used by investment advisors and money managers with short-term (1 to 3 year), high-yield loans, secured by first (occasionally second) position mortgages on real estate.   The invention adds deeds of trust to the investments offered to clients of a federally registered investment advisor or money manager.

The USPTO issued U.S. Patent No. 7,567,937 entitled “System and method for automatically effecting payment for a user of an electronic auction system,” which is assigned to XPRT Ventures, LLC.

As the title suggests, the patent broadly covers a system and method for making automatic payments upon the conclusion of an auction.  The invention operates in a computerized electronic auction payment environment and makes a real-time payment for an item won in the electronic auction.

Claim 1:

A method for automatically effecting payment for a user of an electronic auction web site maintained by an electronic auction system, said method comprising the steps of:

maintaining a plurality of electronic payment accounts by an electronic auction payment system integrated with said electronic auction system, each of said plurality of electronic payment accounts storing funds therein and each being used for user transactions in the electronic auction system;

receiving authorization from the user prior to the beginning of an electronic auction provided by the electronic auction web site to execute an automatic payment method after the conclusion of the electronic auction, wherein the automatic payment method includes at least automatically deducting funds from one of the electronic payment accounts corresponding to the user of the electronic auction web site; and

executing the automatic payment method for the user after the conclusion of the electronic auction, if the user has provided authorization prior to the beginning of the electronic auction for executing the automatic payment method, the executing step being performed by at least one processor and comprising the steps of:

automatically deducting funds from the payment account corresponding to the user of the electronic auction web site; and

automatically transferring at least a portion of the deducted funds into at least one account for automatically effecting payment for the user of the electronic auction web site, wherein at least one payment source corresponding to the user of the electronic auction web site is used to obtain funds for storing within the payment account prior to deducting funds from the payment account.

Today the USPTO issued U.S. Patent No. 7,565,307 to TC License Ltd., entitled “Automatic payment method using RF ID tags.”  The invention is directed towards cashless fueling transactions by using a vehicle-based decal sticker RFID tags that are associated with a unique customer identification number.  When fuel dispenser senses a tag, the tag information is sent to a network host via the POS where it is linked to a customer’s account for transaction processing and subsequent activation of the fuel dispenser.

Claim 1 reads:

A system for conducting cashless business transactions, comprising:

a plurality of fuel dispensers, each dispenser having at least one antenna and at least one vehicle presence detector,

said at least one vehicle presence detector determining presence of a stationary vehicle by:

(i) setting a stationary vehicle timer,

(ii) detecting the vehicle while said timer is running,

(iii) determining whether the timer has exceeded a predetermined threshold while the vehicle is detected, and

(iv) if the threshold has been exceeded, determining that the vehicle is stationary;

a controller having a tag reader for reading information from a tag connected to the vehicle when the vehicle is detected by said at least one vehicle presence detector,

the controller receiving information by:

(i) attempting to read the tag of the stationary vehicle,

(ii) setting a tag read timer,

(iii) determining whether a wait time for the tag reader has been exceeded,

(iv) if the wait time for the tag reader has not been exceeded, determining the tag reader was able to read the tag,

(v) determining whether the number of readings of the tag has exceeded a predetermined threshold,

(vi) if the threshold has been exceeded, determining whether the tag is a valid tag,

(vii) extracting data from the tag; and

a point of sale computer receiving tag information from the controller and processing the tag information to conduct a cashless business transaction.

Today the USPTO issued U.S. Patent No. 7,558,756 to Fannie Mae, entitled “Method and system for evaluating loan workout scenarios.”  The invention is directed towards evaluating loan workout options based on a risk factor, including collecting loan information comprising a score that represents a probability of default value, wherein higher scores indicate higher risks of default.

Claim 1:

A computer system for evaluating a plurality of loan workout options, wherein at least one workout option includes a plurality of scenarios, the system comprising:

a memory storing a collection component for collecting information relating to a loan from a plurality of internal and external sources; and

a processor which executes instructions for evaluating the plurality of workout options based on the information relating to the loan, predetermined values obtained from evaluations of empirical data, and predefined rules associated with each of the plurality of scenarios to assess the risks associated with each of the plurality of workout options and to provide at least one recommendation for each workout option to a user;

wherein:

the workout options include a repayment plan option, a loan modification option, a pre-foreclosure sale option, an assumption of mortgage option, and a deed in lieu of foreclosure option;

for the repayment plan option the system produces four different repayment scenarios, wherein the borrower repays all the delinquent funds within a specified term by making larger than normal monthly payments;

for the loan modification plan option the system produces a repayment scenario, wherein the borrower repays all the delinquent funds distributed over the remaining life of the loan;

for the pre-foreclosure sale option the system calculates an estimated value of a property, a total debt of the loan, and net proceeds of a loan;

for the deed in lieu of foreclosure option the system calculates an estimated value of a property, a total debt of the loan, a real estate owned debt, and the total savings.

Normally I’m not one to seek out the occasional offbeat patent, but sometimes you come across a patent where you just can’t help yourself.  This week I bring you U.S. Patent 7,552,070, “System and method of planning a funeral.”

The invention relates to arranging and funding a funeral or other memorial service.  The program receives user input requesting information associated with funeral products, services and homes, and then it associates the user input with a budgetary, profile, home locator, or step-based parameter.

The assignee is aptly named “Forethought Financial Services, Inc.”

Claim 1 reads:

A computer-implemented method for creating an online funeral plan, the method comprising:

generating a profile including a plurality of profile parameters, wherein the plurality of profile parameters are related to a personal funerary preference and a lifestyle of a decedent, and the lifestyle of the decedent is associated with a profession of the decedent;

generating a plurality of groupings of products and services each associated with a profile parameter of the plurality of profile parameters;

receiving user input associated with a grouping of products and services of the plurality of groupings of products and services to obtain requested pricing information on a product or service offered by a selected funeral service provider among a plurality of funeral service providers;

retrieving in response to the user input the requested pricing information by accessing a database storing pricing information associated with the grouping of products and services associated with the profile parameter and offered by the plurality of funeral service providers, wherein the grouping of products and services are preselected to complement each other and complete aspects of funeral planning, and to individually and collectively accord with the profile parameter that relates to the personal funerary preference and the lifestyle of the decedent, wherein each funeral service provider is associated with a distinct set of products and services from the plurality of products and services, and wherein the database maintains pricing information for the set of products and services associated with each funeral service provider;

steering generation of the funeral plan according to the profile parameter that relates to the personal funerary preference and the lifestyle of the decedent by prompting user selections from the grouping of products and services associated with the profile parameter;

outputting the requested pricing information to the user; and

wherein the generating the profile, generating the plurality of groupings, receiving user input, retrieving, steering, and outputting steps are implemented by executable software stored in a computer.

On June 16, 2009, U.S. Patent 7,546,945 issued to Capital One Financial Corp.  The patent, entitled “System and method for managing transactions,” is directed to managing transactions associated with an individual’s financial accounts.

The idea is pretty simple.  Whereas it is common for individuals to have multiple financial accounts, there isn’t always an easy way to automatically manage transactions to/from one of those accounts based upon terms of other another account or based on events occurring with respect to other accounts.  Representative claim 1 recites the straightforward process by which transitions for an individual’s accounts may be configured to be automatically processed in such a way to maximize the benefits associated with the accounts for their owner:

A method for managing transactions associated with accounts of an individual, comprising:

receiving information associated with the individual;

receiving information associated with a first account of the individual;

receiving information associated with a second account of the individual;

processing the received information associated with the individual, the received information associated with the first account, and the received information associated with the second account; and

automatically performing a transaction based upon a result of the processing, wherein

the processing is based upon comparisons of one of terms and events of the first and second accounts to maximize a benefit to the individual.

U.S. Patent 7,542,921 issued today to JPMorgan Chase Bank for a “Network-Based Financial Planning System and Method.”

Abstract: “A method and information processor are provided which allow a user of a user terminal to receive a list of credit financing opportunities based on the user’s financing objectives in which credit data is received from the user terminal. The credit data includes the user’s objective and a credit profile. Credit financing opportunities are determined based on the credit data and one or more predetermined decision rules. An output is generated and provided to the user terminal which includes a comparison of at least part of the credit profile with the determined credit financing opportunities.”