Multi-Profile Virtual Card Account Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing financial card systems lack the ability to manage multiple user profiles with distinct attributes, leading to inadequate control and security for secondary users, as they do not allow for dynamic alteration of spending limits and usage restrictions.
Innovation Solution
A system that utilizes virtual card numbers and a graphical user interface to create and manage multiple user profiles, allowing primary users to configure attributes such as spending limits, merchant categories, and geographic restrictions for secondary users, enabling real-time control and monitoring of transactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single financial card account is shared among multiple users, then card usage convenience is improved, but control and security for secondary users deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the single financial card account into multiple user profiles, each with distinct attributes and spending limits. The primary user account is divided into sub-accounts for secondary users (e.g., children, dependents), allowing individualized control while maintaining shared card functionality. This segmentation enables both convenience (shared card) and security (individual limits).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different attributes and spending limits to different user profiles within the same account. Each secondary user profile has customized spending thresholds, restricted merchant categories, and geographic limitations tailored to their specific needs, while the primary user maintains full control over these local parameters.
2Reliability
If multiple user profiles with distinct attributes are implemented, then control and security are improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal profile management system that handles multiple user profiles through a single account structure. The system uses virtual card numbers and standardized profile attributes that can be applied across different secondary users, reducing complexity through reusability and consistency in the management framework.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces virtual card numbers as intermediaries between the primary user account and secondary user transactions. These virtual VCNs act as mediators that enable individualized control without requiring separate physical cards or complex authentication systems for each secondary user, simplifying the overall system architecture.
3Extent of automation
If virtual card numbers and profile attributes are used, then transaction management control is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring spending limits, merchant category restrictions, and geographic boundaries for each secondary user profile before transactions occur. The system automatically evaluates these pre-set attributes during transaction processing, eliminating the need for real-time complex decision-making and simplifying authorization logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses virtual card number copying to manage multiple secondary users. Instead of creating entirely new account structures for each user, the system copies the primary account framework and applies specific profile attributes to each copy, reducing processing complexity through template-based profile creation and management.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed embodiments may include a method for using accounts with multiple profiles where the system allows a primary user to create one or more secondary user profiles. Each secondary user profile is associated with its own VCN and one or more attributes. The one or more attributes can be used to limit the spending ability of each secondary user individually with hard and soft spending limits including merchant category, overall spending, and geographic limits. Purchases by a secondary user that violate the soft limits may be allowed by the primary user using an application associated with the primary account number. Attributes can be assembled by the primary user to create specific and creative spending limits. The system associates each transaction with the user profile using the specific VCN and generates a GUI for the primary user showing the second user profile, its current balance, and transaction history.