FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT  1970
(39 OF 1970)

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(Section 10  Rule 13)

TITLE

VIRTUAL TRANSACTION SERVICE PROVIDER SYSTEM

APPLICANT

Name: Bhartiya Samruddhi Investments and Consulting Services
(BASICS Ltd.)
Nationality: Indian Company

Address: 3rd Floor  Surabhi ArcadeTroop Bazar  Bank Street  Kothi  Hyderabad  A.P  India - 500001

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:-
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a virtual transaction service provider system and method and in detail the present invention is related to provide a virtual transaction service provider system which serves entire customers from various business correspondent outlet wherein the system seamlessly by virtually directing bank transactions to ap-propriate Bank’s systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Systems for enacting financial transactions are widespread and well known in art. Such sys-tems within a bank are commonly referred to as transaction processing systems  although financial institutions other than banks (for example  credit card issuers  co-operatives  e-money institutions  credit unions etc.) operate and use such systems and infrastructures. Ac-cordingly  the terms ‘bank’ and ‘banking’ are used herein is a non-limiting way to encompass all kinds of institutions which use and/or operate such systems and infrastructures.

Even though it is financial inclusion delivered by various ways and means  when it comes to cash management to support deposit/withdrawals  the challenges and risk of cash handling are still there  the amount of resources that a business correspondent sub agent can spend on assuring safety of cash is very frugal. The cost of physical movement of money accumulated at business correspondent to the money accumulated is very high and making the business financially unsustainable.

Current financial inclusion implementations are Service Provider/Bank specific and hence not successful and not sustainable and there is no interoperability among multiple Service Pro-viders/Banks due to offline bank transactions and there is limited Customer Convenience due to limited availability of non-banking services and there is a agent sustainability issues due to limited scope of services fetching income for which a dedicated IT infrastructure for each bank making higher transaction costs and offline bank transactions resulting in reconciliation issues  interoperability  where there is no convergence of financial inclusion and mobile banking and because of single Point of Sale device for transactions limiting interoperability and scale up and the customer cannot do transactions immediately at an agent after he completes a transaction with another agent(Limited agent interoperability) and there is 100% coverage is an issue with one type of biometric(e.g. Only use of finger print biometric) and no alternative communication channel for transactions (only one of GSM  GPRS available) and there is no linkage of financial inclusion to e-governance implementations and there is no support of transactions related to Mobile services; and further offline reconciliations resulting loss of trust in the financial inclusion implementations and no calendar based settlements with Service Providers/Banks and there is a limited support of Customer Self Service (eg.  No Mini ATM Support) and there is no support of commercial transactions not involving cash/cash less.

To overcome the above problems  there is a need for a virtual integration of all the banks using a virtual transaction service provider system which can integrate all the bank systems by virtually directing all bank transactions which can server the customers from various outlets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide systems and methods for executing banking transactions  wherein the system serves entire customers from vari-ous outlets by virtually directing bank transactions to appropriate bank’s systems.

According to this invention  there is a system for integrating the transactions performed across different banks comprises the following key components  (a) BCSA which is termed to be a business correspondent Sub Agent is a representative of the bank who accepts deposits and facilitates withdrawals; (b) a BCO which is termed as a business correspondent outlet; (c) a CBS- which is termed as a core banking system; (d) a float amount which is termed to be an advance deposit of BCO with Sub-K towards provision of liquidity for transactions thereby increasing the liability during cash Withdrawals and decreases during cash deposits; (e) a Sub-K pool account which is termed to be a Sub-K corporate pool/petty cash account with each bank which provides immediate liquidity for transactions and (f) a virtual transaction service provider platform which integrated with multiple banks and service providers like mobile top-up aggregators  utility payment aggregators  health care providers etc. for provision of financial/non-financial services through a network interface linking such as mobile with Global system for mobile com-munications (GSM)  mobile with Global Positioning Radio service (GPRS) connectivity  desktop/laptop with internet connectivity.

According to this invention  there is provided a system for executing banking transac-tions  wherein the virtual transaction service provider system identifies each end cus-tomer enrolled by a business correspondence outlet (BCO) with a unique 10 digit ID  where if the customer has a mobile  the mobile number can be used as the Customer identity  if not Sub-K will assign a unique 10 digit ID based on logic of for e.g. on the lo-cation (i.e.  State  District) of the Customer  and once the customer is enrolled  then he/she will be able to transact from any Sub-K BCO across demographics and during customer enrolment  the system collects the Customer 2 factor(4 digit PIN  Voice Bio-metric/Finger Print Biometric) for authentications during banking transactions  and further the system serves the end Customer anywhere from GSM  GPRS or Internet com-munication channels seamlessly wherein the Sub-K designates a BCO as a representa-tive of a Bank with whom it has integrated and any bank transactions through a Sub-K BCO are diverted through its designated transactions.

Further objective of the invention is to provide  the virtual transaction service provider system is a central transactional platform which is common across multiple banks inte-grations and non-bank integrations. There is no separate infrastructure for each of the bank integration except having a mapping server deployed in Bank’s premises to hold Customer sensitive data for mapping purposes.

The term SUB-K referred herein as amount which is less than Rs.1000 and was envisaged with a context that people could access financial services within a distance of 1000 meters (1 km)  and by incurring a transaction fee that is less than 1000 paise (Rs. 10)  and an outlet serving about 1000 customers in a locality.

The term a “SUB-K pool account” is a SUB-K corporate pool/petty cash account with each bank which provides immediate liquidity for transactions.

Advantages and features of the invention include but are not necessarily limited to services include savings  micro-pensions Micro-insurance  NREGA and other government payments  money transfer  micro-credit  utility payments and pre-paid mobile top-up through a BCO thus enabling financial inclusion   thereby increasing demand for basic financial services amongst all social classes  need to include the financially excluded  and rapid adoption of mobile technology among masses  which acted as a catalyst to enable Sub-K. Sub-K will use this highly scalable digital channel to provide access to the basic financial services to all social classes thus impacting their social lives in a big way. Sub-K provides financial services adhering to RBI & UID (Aadhaar) standards as well.

Sub-K Financial Inclusion implementation works completely real-time & online and has the unique ability to converge the financial inclusion and mobile banking to enable massive cus-tomer transactions across the diversified areas.

The above summary relates to only one of the many embodiments of the invention disclosed herein and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention  which is set forth in the claims herein. These and other features of the present invention will be described in more detail be-low in the detailed description of the invention and in conjunction with the following figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation  in the fig-ures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

Figure 1 shows  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention  a block diagram of the system providing a platform to perform transaction across multiple banks.

Figure 2 shows  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention  a deployment of the transaction platform which makes the transaction process effective.

Figure 3A and 3B shows  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention  a fund flow dia-gram of a transaction which includes cash deposit and cash withdrawal respectively.

Figure 4 shows  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention  a block diagram showing the SUB-K transactional platform having bank interoperability involving real-time recon-ciliation across the multiple banks.

Figure 5 shows  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention  an instance of a float management system.

Figure 6 shows  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention  a block diagram of the alert mechanism when float exceeds tolerance limits.

Figure 7 shows  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention  a data flow diagram of the pool account alert mechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the invention  exam-ples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be de-scribed in conjunction with the preferred embodiments  it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary  the invention is in-tended to cover alternatives  modifications and equivalents  which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Furthermore  in the detailed de-scription of the present invention  numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However  it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances  well known methods  procedures  components  and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of procedures  logic blocks  processing  and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer or digital system memory. These descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. A procedure  logic block  process  etc.  is herein  and generally  conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually  though not necessarily  these physical manipulations take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored  transferred  combined  compared  and otherwise manipulated in a computer system or similar electronic computing device. For reasons of convenience  and with reference to common usage  these signals are referred to as bits  val-ues  elements  symbols  characters  terms  numbers  or the like with reference to the present invention.

It should be borne in mind  however  that all of these terms are to be interpreted as referenc-ing physical manipulations and quantities and are merely convenient labels and are to be in-terpreted further in view of terms commonly used in the art. Unless specifically stated other-wise as apparent from the discussion herein  it is understood that throughout discussions of the present embodiment  discussions utilizing terms such as "determining" or "outputting" or "transmitting" or "recording" or "locating" or "storing" or "displaying" or "receiving" or "recog-nizing" or "utilizing" or "generating" or "providing" or "accessing" or "checking" or "notifying" or "delivering" or the like  refer to the action and processes of a computer system  or similar electronic computing device  that manipulates and transforms data. The data is represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system""s registers and memories and is transformed into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage  transmission  or display devices.

The following description of the preferred embodiment(s) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention  its application  or uses.

The features and advantages of the invention may be better understood with reference to the figures and discussions that follow. Fig. 1  an exemplary system showing a block diagram with the following key components: a BCSA which is termed to be a business correspondent Sub Agent is a representative of the bank who accepts deposits and facilitates withdrawals; a BCO which is termed as a business correspondent outlet; a CBS is a one which is termed as a core banking system; a float amount which is termed to be an advance deposit of BCO with Sub-K towards provision of liquidity for transactions thereby increasing the liability during cash Withdrawals and decreases during cash deposits; a Sub-K pool account which is termed to be a Sub-K corporate pool/petty cash account with each bank which provides immediate liquidity for transactions and a virtual transaction service provider platform which integrated with multiple banks and service providers like mobile top-up aggregators  utility payment aggregators  health care providers etc. for provision of financial/non-financial services through a network interface linking such as mobile with Global system for mobile com-munications (GSM)  mobile with Global Positioning Radio service (GPRS) connectivity  desk-top/laptop with internet connectivity.

Further  as described in FIG.1 conceptually illustrates a system  wherein virtual transaction service provider platform ensures each end customer enrolled by a business correspondence outlet (BCO) with a unique 10 digit ID  where if the customer has a mobile  the mobile number can be used as the Customer identity  if not Sub-K will assign a unique 10 digit ID based on logic of for e.g. on the location (i.e.  State  District) of the Customer  and once the customer is enrolled  then he/she will be able to transact from any Sub-K BCO across demographics and during customer enrolment  the system collects the Customer 2 factor(4 digit PIN  Voice Biometric/Finger Print Biometric) for authentications during banking transactions  wherein a user transactional authentication request is validated are performed in response to acknowledgement using one of foundational biometric measurement  PIN (personal identification number) verification  and a combination thereof  and the foundational biometric measurement is selected from at least one of a set of high performance biometrics  consisting of a fingerprint  an iris scan  a retinal scan  or a DNA reading; and wherein  the verifying biometric measurement is selected from at least one of a set of high collectability biometrics  consisting of facial geometry  hand geometry  signature analysis  facial thermo-graph  or gait. Further the system serves the end Customer anywhere from GSM  GPRS or Internet communication channels seamlessly wherein the Sub-K designates a BCO as a rep-resentative of a Bank with whom it has integrated and any bank transactions through a Sub-K BCO are diverted through its designated transactions

Referring now to FIG. 2 illustrates a deployment of transaction platform 200 which makes the transaction process effective  wherein the transaction platform which provides a database server 201 maintaining accounts relating to respective consumers comprises bank server 202 coupled back to the database server via third party data interface which includes a communication linking such as mobile 203 with GSM mobile with GPRS connectivity  desk-top/laptop with internet connectivity thereby transmitting a signal to the communication device of the consumer which is mobile in this case indicating that payment is approved. Preferably the signal is an SMS message. Preferably continuous line between mapping server and bank server indicates real time integration while dotted line indicates batch wise integration.

In other embodiments  the transfer from the mobile phone may be by way of infrared com-munication or blue tooth communication or Wi-Fi communication.

Referring now to Figure 3A and 3B shows a fund flow diagram of a transaction which in-cludes cash deposit and cash withdrawal respectively wherein various elements involved in individual transactions. Fig. 3A describes one embodiment which involves various elements for cash deposit  For example  the customer deposits Rs. 500 with BCO and it debits Rs. 500 from SUB-K pool account and credits Rs.500 to Customer’s account and reduces Rs. 500 from BCO float which is the virtual account in SUB-K system. Further Fig. 3B describes one embodiment which involves various elements for cash withdrawal  For example a customer withdraws Rs.500 from BCO and it debits Rs.500 from customer’s account and it credits Rs. 500 to SUB-K account which increases Rs.500 to BCO float which is a virtual account in SUB-K system.

Referring to Fig. 4 shows  a block diagram showing the SUB-K transactional platform having bank interoperability involving real-time reconciliation across the multiple banks  wherein the SUB-K transactional platform has the ability to allow interbank transactions involving real time reconciliation across the multiple banks. The usage of the same is subject to the permission from banking regulatory body of the country. For example  remitter who has account in Bank 1 comes to BCO to remit Rs. 500 into beneficiary’s account in Bank 2  then the remitters account of Bank 1 gets debited with Rs.500 and SUB-K pool account of Bank 1 gets credited with Rs. 500 and then the SUB-K pool account of Bank 2 gets debited with Rs.500 and further the beneficiary account in Bank 2 gets credited with Rs.500 and no change into BCO float which is virtual account in SUB-K system.

Referring to Fig. 5 shows  an instance of a float management system which describes the liquidity management for each BCO  for example if the Maximum Float limit is Rs. 10 000  then the maximum and minimum float tolerance level is Rs. 9000  where the transaction limit is only Rs.1000 and the minimum float limit is Rs.0

Referring to Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of the alert mechanism  when float exceeds toler-ance limits. Here the SUB-K transactional platform sends alerts to BCO and SUB-K staff based on current BCO float crossing the maximum tolerance limit and minimum tolerance limit.

Referring to Fig. 7 shows a data flow diagram of the pool account alert mechanism  wherein SUB-K transactional platform sends alerts at regular intervals when SUB-K pool account in each bank below a set limit. This will ensure SUB-K maintain optimal pool account balance in each bank while maintaining BCO transactions across the spread region. Maintaining SUB-K pool account adds significant value into SUB-K  banks and BCO business. Further to add  the process flows as follows: list of all banks is taken for which has SUB-K pool account  a balance enquiry for each bank is performed and relatively update the pool account balance data in transactional platform with the balance from each bank  further if the pool account balance is less than prescribed lower tolerance limit  then flash a message in the prescribed format to the concerned SUB-K person by SMS as well as e-mail for each bank separately  thereby triggering the reverse auto sweep provided by each bank with SUB-K pool account  this process is repeated for every hour for all the pool accounts of SUB-K.

The invention is herein described  by way of example only  with reference to the accompany-ing drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail  it is stressed that the par-ticulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the pre-ferred embodiments of the present invention only  and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard  no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention  the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.

All headings and sub-headings are used herein for convenience only and should not be con-strued as limiting the invention in any way. The use of any and all examples  or exemplary language (e.g.  “such as”) provided herein  is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.

It is appreciated that certain features of the invention  which are  for clarity  described in the context of separate embodiments  may also be provided in combination in a single embodi-ment. Conversely  various features of the invention  which are  for brevity  described in the context of a single embodiment  may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub combination.

CLAIMS

I/ We claim:
1. A system for virtually integrating transactions performed across different banks by a user comprising: a business correspondent sub agent (BCSA); a business corre-spondent outlet (BCO); a core banking system; a Sub-K pool account with each bank which provides immediate liquidity for transactions; a float amount which is an ad-vance deposit of the BCO towards provision of liquidity transactions; a virtual transac-tion service provider platform which is integrated with multiple banks and service pro-viders in order to execute the said transaction  wherein said transaction service pro-vider platform interfaces with a communication channel in order to receive authenti-cation event; a database server which interfaces to get data in order to perform the transaction.

2. The system of claim 1  wherein said authentication event comprises at least one selected from: a) short messaging service (SMS) message; b) email message; c) instant message; d) interactive voice response message (IVRS); e) telephony based voice communication e) telephone line based fax and like.

3. The system of claim 1  wherein said transaction service provider platform supports transactions by multiple communication channels like GSM  CDMA  GPRS  Internet and like.

4. The system of claim 1  wherein a user transactional authentication request is validated are performed in response to acknowledgement using one of foundational biometric measurement  PIN (personal identification number) verification  and a combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1  wherein he foundational biometric measurement is selected from at least one of a set of high performance biometrics  consisting of a fingerprint  an iris scan  a retinal scan  or a DNA reading; and wherein  the verifying biometric measurement is selected from at least one of a set of high collectability biometrics  consisting of facial geometry  hand geometry  signature analysis  facial thermograph  or gait.

6. The system of claim 1  wherein said transaction service provider platform allows the BCOs to provide multiple bank and non-bank integrations.

7. The system of claim 1  wherein the system may be used for point-of-sale payments  a PayPass terminal  a remote mobile payment initiated by a mobile phone  and/or a web-based payment.

8. The system of claim 1  wherein said service providers include mobile top-up aggrega-tors  utility payment aggregators  health care providers etc. for provision of finan-cial/non-financial services.

ABSTRACT

A system for virtually integrating transactions performed across different banks by a user comprising: a business correspondent sub agent (BCSA); a business corre-spondent outlet (BCO); a core banking system; a Sub-K pool account with each bank which provides immediate liquidity for transactions; a float amount which is an ad-vance deposit of the BCO towards provision of liquidity transactions; a virtual transac-tion service provider platform which is integrated with multiple banks and service pro-viders in order to execute the said transaction  wherein said transaction service pro-vider platform interfaces with a communication channel in order to receive authenti-cation event; a database server which interfaces to get data in order to perform the transaction