IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,236,493
Granted Patent B2
US 12,236,493 · App. 18/366,499 · Granted Feb 25, 2025

Systems and methods of access control and system integration

Inventors: Rodney Kenneth Drury (Havelock North, NZ); Matthew John Vickers (Wellington, NZ)
Assignee: Xero Limited
G06Q40/128G06Q20/027G06Q20/10G06Q20/108G06Q20/227G06Q20/40G06Q20/4037G06Q40/12
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,236,493
App. No.
18/366,499
Granted
Feb 25, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Automated provisioning, according to one example embodiment, enables a mutual customer to establish an intelligent and automated connection between an accounting software system and their financial institution. For example, this might be achieved by allowing a financial institution customer to make feeds from their bank accounts available to the accounting software system within financial internet software (e.g., hosted and operated by the customer's financial institution). Once a customer selects the bank account(s) they want to share with the accounting software system, they are passed along to the accounting software system to link the selected bank account with an account they have set up in the accounting software system.

Claims (56)

1. A method comprising, at a data center of an accounting system:

receiving, from a user of the accounting system, financial account credentials registered to a financial account at a financial institution, the financial institution storing banking records for the financial account at a bank server;

allowing the user to establish an encrypted connection between the financial account at the financial institution and a user account associated with the user at the accounting system;

in response to the user selecting to establish the encrypted connection between the financial account at the financial institution and the user account associated with the user at the accounting system:

registering to receive, from the bank server, banking records for the financial account via a secure bank feed, via which secure bank feed up to date banking records for the financial account are transmitted in encrypted form from the bank server and, at the accounting system, decrypted and loaded into a user account of the accounting system associated with the user; and

from the user account associated with the user at the accounting system, issuing, in encrypted form and via a communication module of the accounting system, one or more requests requesting a payment to the financial account at the financial institution.

2. The method according to claim 1 , the method further comprising

at the bank server, using a randomly generated symmetric key to encrypt the banking records, using a public key of the accounting system to encrypt the randomly generated symmetric key for transmission to the accounting system to process the payment from the financial account, and sending the encrypted banking records and the encrypted randomly generated symmetric key to the accounting system via the secure bank feed;

at the accounting system, receiving, from the bank server via the bank feed, the encrypted banking records and the encrypted randomly generated symmetric key, using a private key to decrypt the encrypted randomly generated symmetric key, and using the decrypted randomly generated symmetric key to decrypt the encrypted banking records.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising

receiving, from the user, an activation of a third party payment service to process the one or more requests for payment.

4. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein a user application of the accounting system provides, to a user account of the accounting system, a user interface for enabling, for one or more financial accounts previously registered to the user account of the accounting system, the accounting system to register to receive a bank feed of banking records for the one or more financial accounts.

5. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising

authenticating the user with the financial institution to allow the user establish a connection between the financial account at the financial institution and a user account associated with the user at the accounting system.

6. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the up to date records for the financial account are transmitted from the bank server and loaded into the user account of the accounting system on a schedule.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising

at the accounting system, processing the banking records received via the secure bank feed to create or suggest corresponding entries in a single-ledger accounting system maintained by the accounting system in association with the user account.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein

the secure bank feed is composed of bank feed data regarding financial transactions to and from the financial account at the financial institution.

9. An accounting system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a user of the accounting system, financial account credentials registered to a financial account at a financial institution, the financial institution storing banking records for the financial account at a bank server;

allowing the user to establish an encrypted connection between the financial account at the financial institution and a user account associated with the user at the accounting system;

in response to the user selecting to establish the encrypted connection between the financial account at the financial institution and the user account associated with the user at the accounting system:

registering to receive, from the bank server, banking records for the financial account via a secure bank feed, via which secure bank feed up to date banking records for the financial account are transmitted in encrypted form from the bank server and, at the accounting system, decrypted and loaded into a user account of the accounting system associated with the user; and

from the user account associated with the user at the accounting system, issuing, in encrypted form and via a communication module of the accounting system, one or more requests for payment to the financial account at the financial institution.

10. The accounting system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the bank server via the secure bank feed, a randomly generated symmetric key encrypted by a public key of the accounting system, and banking records encrypted by the randomly generated symmetric key;

using a private key to decrypt the encrypted randomly generated symmetric key, and using the decrypted randomly generated symmetric key to decrypt the encrypted banking records.

11. The accounting system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the user, an activation of a third party payment service to process the one or more requests for payment.

12. The accounting system of claim 9 , wherein a user application of the accounting system provides, to a user account of the accounting system, a user interface for enabling, for one or more financial accounts previously registered to the user account of the accounting system, the accounting system to register to receive a bank feed of banking records for the one or more financial accounts.

13. The accounting system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform operations comprising:

authenticating the user with the financial institution to allow the user establish a connection between the financial account at the financial institution and a user account associated with the user at the accounting system.

14. The accounting system of claim 9 , wherein

wherein the up to date records for the financial account are transmitted from the bank server and loaded into the user account of the accounting system on a schedule.

15. The accounting system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform operations comprising:

at the accounting system, processing the banking records received via the secure bank feed to create or suggest corresponding entries in a single-ledger accounting system maintained by the accounting system in association with the user account.

16. The accounting system of claim 9 , wherein

the secure bank feed is composed of bank feed data regarding financial transactions to and from the financial account at the financial institution.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more processors of an accounting system, cause the accounting system to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a user of the accounting system, financial account credentials registered to a financial account at a financial institution, the financial institution storing banking records for the financial account at a bank server;

allowing the user to establish an encrypted connection between the financial account at the financial institution and a user account associated with the user at the accounting system;

in response to the user selecting to establish the encrypted connection between the financial account at the financial institution and the user account associated with the user at the accounting system:

registering to receive, from the bank server, banking records for the financial account via a secure bank feed, via which secure bank feed up to date banking records for the financial account are transmitted in encrypted form from the bank server and, at the accounting system, decrypted and loaded into a user account of the accounting system associated with the user; and

from the user account associated with the user at the accounting system, issuing, in encrypted form and via a communication module of the accounting system, one or more requests for payment to the financial account at the financial institution.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise providing a user application of the accounting system to one or more users:

wherein the user application provides, to a user account of the accounting system, a user interface for enabling, for one or more financial accounts previously registered to the user account of the accounting system, the accounting system to register to receive a bank feed of banking records for the one or more financial accounts.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the bank server via the secure bank feed, a randomly generated symmetric key encrypted by a public key of the accounting system, and banking records encrypted by the randomly generated symmetric key;

using a private key to decrypt the encrypted randomly generated symmetric key, and using the decrypted randomly generated symmetric key to decrypt the encrypted banking records.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the user, an activation of a third party payment service to process the one or more requests for payment.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 7, 2023
From: DRURY, RODNEY KENNETH; VICKERS, MATTHEW JOHN
To: XERO LIMITED
Reel/Frame 064513/0928 →
Continuity (6)
Continuation 17306023 · May 3, 2021
Continuation 16204394 · Nov 29, 2018
Continuation 14832357 · Aug 21, 2015
Continuation 14494476 · Sep 23, 2014
Provisional Application 61881314 · Sep 23, 2013
Related Publication 20230385953A1 · Nov 30, 2023
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