Purse-Based Fund Management System for Budget Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic funds management systems provide limited technical budgeting support, making it difficult and time-consuming to ensure financial transactions are processed in accordance with a budget, especially for unbanked individuals who lack traditional banking accounts.
Innovation Solution
A system that identifies a purse associated with a cardholder account based on transaction factors, prioritizes funds using purse priority and balance, and determines authorization requests accordingly, allowing for strategic management of funds within predetermined categories.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional payment card mechanisms are used to control access to funds, then full access or no access to funds is provided, but limited budgeting support and difficulty in managing funds according to budget are resulted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the cardholder account into multiple purses, each representing a different budget category (e.g., groceries, transportation, entertainment). Each purse has its own balance and can be independently managed, allowing cardholders to allocate funds to specific categories and track spending within each category separately. This segmentation enables detailed budgeting support while maintaining a unified payment card system.
2Productivity
If payment cards are activated for full access to funds, then transaction convenience is improved, but inability to enforce budget constraints is resulted
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically monitors each purse's balance and provides real-time feedback to the cardholder about available funds in each budget category. When a transaction is attempted, the system checks whether sufficient funds exist in the relevant purse and notifies the cardholder of the impact on their budget. This feedback mechanism enforces budget constraints while maintaining smooth transaction processing.
Solution Approach 2:
Cardholders pre-allocate funds to different purses before spending, establishing budget constraints in advance. The system then automatically applies these pre-set constraints to subsequent transactions, determining whether to approve or decline based on available purse balances. This preliminary allocation ensures budget compliance is enforced before transactions occur.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple purses are created for different budget categories, then budget management capability is improved, but system complexity and processing time are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal purse identification mechanism that automatically determines the appropriate purse for each transaction based on merchant category codes or transaction types. Instead of requiring cardholders to manually select purses for each transaction, the system universally applies category-based routing rules, enabling versatile budget category management while keeping the transaction process simple and fast.
4Measurement precision
If automatic purse selection based on transaction factors is implemented, then budget enforcement accuracy is improved, but computational requirements and processing complexity are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses simple parameter-based identification rules to match transactions with appropriate purses, such as comparing merchant category codes with predefined category ranges or using hierarchical category matching. These parameter changes involve straightforward comparisons and lookups rather than complex algorithms, achieving accurate purse identification while maintaining efficient processing and avoiding excessive system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of the disclosure enable a user to manage funds for financial transactions. In some embodiments, a request for authorization of a financial transaction associated with one or more factors including a transaction amount is received from a financial transaction processing computing device, a first purse associated with a cardholder account that is associated with one or more purses is identified based on the one or more first factors, a plurality of parameters associated with the first purse including a first purse priority and a first purse balance are identified, the first purse balance is compared with the transaction amount to determine a difference between the first purse balance and the transaction amount, and it is determined whether to approve the request for authorization based on the first purse priority and the difference between the first purse balance and the transaction amount.