Abstract:
An account statement contains a key that is utilized to provide access to selected information in an account. The key and account identification is provided to a document server by a user in the form of a request. The selected information is accessed by the document server, which is only allowed to access information associated with the key. The server populates a document with the information in one embodiment and sends the document back to the user. An application the user is running may use the document to populate a form, such as a tax related document. In one embodiment, a hosting company for an account generates the key, and provides it on an account summary provided to the user. The key may be emailed or otherwise communicated to the user by the account hosting company.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to sensitive data, and in particular to a sensitive data retrieval system and method.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Filling out forms, such as tax forms or other forms sometimes requires information that is held in an electronic account on a network. Many such accounts contain passwords or PINs (Personal Identification Number/s) allowing access to the information in the account. Using these passwords allows the user to obtain information in the account with which to populate the form. The forms reside in a program, such as a tax preparation program which may be running locally, or on a server on the network. It is not desirable to give out a PIN for accounts, as they may be taken and used to a user&#39;s detriment and opens access to their full account.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    An account statement contains a key that is utilized to provide access to selected information in an account. In one embodiment, the key and account identification is provided to a document server by a user. The account is accessed by the document server, which is only allowed to access information associated with the key. The server compiles the associated information in one embodiment and sends the associated information back to the user. An application the user is running may use the associated information to populate a form, such as a tax related document.  
           [0004]    In one embodiment, a hosting company for an account generates the key, and provides it on an account summary provided to the user. Since the account statement likely contains the information accessible by the key, minimal further security issues are raised by use of the key to obtain the information for the document. In further embodiments, the key may be emailed or otherwise communicated to the user by the account hosting company.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is a block flow diagram of a process and system for creating documents with information from one or more accounts using an information specific key.  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a request for creating a document with information from an account.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 is a block flow diagram of an alternative process and system.  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a typical computer system used in the process and system illustrated in FIG. 1. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]    In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.  
         [0010]    The functions or algorithms described herein are implemented in software or a combination of software and human implemented procedures in one embodiment. The software comprises computer executable instructions stored on computer readable media such as memory or other type of storage devices. The term “computer readable media” is also used to represent carrier waves on which the software is transmitted. Further, such functions correspond to modules, which are software, hardware, firmware of any combination thereof. Multiple functions are performed in one or more modules as desired, and the embodiments described are merely examples. The software is executed on a digital signal processor, ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), microprocessor, or other type of processor operating on a computer system, such as a personal computer, server or other computer system.  
         [0011]    A block diagram showing use of a key or authentication code to obtain specific information from an electronic account is shown in FIG. 1. A user identified at  110  is an owner of an account, such as a bank account or other investment account that is electronically housed on a source system  120 , such as an administrative system for on-line banking. The user and source system blocks are representative of both the legal entities of user and bank, and of computer systems that exchange information. The source system  120  in one embodiment communicates a statement  130  to the user, identifying activity in the account, such as interest earned, or other gains from financial instruments in the account. The statement has normal account information, and also includes a key  135  that is specific to a subset of information in the account. If the statement is paper, the key is printed on the statement. The key may be provided in any manner desired by the source system, including orally or electronically.  
         [0012]    In one embodiment, the user is executing an application  140  that requires the subset of information to properly perform a function, such as tax preparation and personal financial management software. The application may be running on a server, or on user  110 . User  110  generates a request for the information and sends the request to a document server  150 . The request contains the key, and enables the document server to access the desired subset of information from the account on the source system  120 . When the subset of information is received by the document server, it provides the information back to the user  110  for use in the application  140 . In one embodiment, the document server generates an electronic document, such as a tax form comprising a W-2/1099/1098 form. Such forms are defined by one of many open financial exchange protocols, such as OFX, FIX, GSTP, RITD, OMGEO, EMX, SWIFT, FIXML, and FPML. The document is readable by a computer system, may be viewed by the computer system, or even printed if desired in some embodiments. In further embodiments, the document is produced by the source system  120 , and passed back to the user directly, or via document server  150 .  
         [0013]    A block diagram of a request is shown in FIG. 2 at  210 . The request includes the key, a source identifier, document server identifier, document type, document ID and a check digit at  215 , and an account identifier, such as a tax ID or account number at  220 . In one embodiment, the request is encoded. Request generation functions are executed on user  110 . In one embodiment, the request generation functions are provided by application  140 , but may also be a stand alone application, interfacing with one or more applications. A simple user interface is provided for entry of the key. Other information for the request may be provided by a user, or taken directly from the applications, which have the information about the account or accounts. The key is used to allow access to a specific subset of information, such as information required to generate a single form, or multiple forms if desired. It does not provide access to other information or functions provided by the source system with respect to the account, thus, maintaining a desired level of security. In one embodiment, the subset of information that the key allows access to is essentially included in the statement or communication providing the key to the user. Thus, no further information may be gained by theft of the statement containing the key in some embodiments.  
         [0014]    In further embodiments, a request comprises requests for multiple documents or subsets of information from one or multiple accounts. An alternative system for handling such requests is indicated in FIG. 3, which may also handle requests for a single document. A user system  310  running a local or remote application  315  again generates the request, which is communicated via the Internet or other network to selected document servers  325 ,  330  and  335 . The specific document server may be identified in the request, routed upon receipt to a document server having bandwidth, or independently identified by address as the destination for the request.  
         [0015]    The document server that receives the request, communicates with one or more source systems  340 ,  345  and  350  having account information for the user. Where the request identifies more than one account at different institutions utilizing different source systems, the request is divided, and sent via network  320  to such source systems. Answers back from the source systems are collated, and multiple documents are provided back to the user, either asynchronously, or at the same time.  
         [0016]    In still further embodiments, the subsets of information are transferred to a separate repository for access. An application service provider (ASP) may be used as a secure central repository allowing a single point of access for users, without allowing full access to a hosting company&#39;s main system. Further, a central repository may be located at the hosting company site, allowing a single point of access for the user, without allowing full access to the main system. In further alternative embodiments, an on demand transfer of information from the hosting company&#39;s third party service bureau is provided to the user application.  
         [0017]    A block diagram of a computer system that executes programming for performing the above algorithm is shown in FIG. 4. A general computing device in the form of a computer  410 , may include a processing unit  402 , memory  404 , removable storage  412 , and non-removable storage  414 . Memory  404  may include volatile memory  406  and non-volatile memory  408 . Computer  410  may include—or have access to a computing environment that includes—a variety of computer-readable media, such as volatile memory  406  and non-volatile memory  408 , removable storage  412  and non-removable storage  414 . Computer storage includes RAM, ROM, EPROM &amp; EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technologies, CD ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of storing computer-readable instructions. Computer  410  may include or have access to a computing environment that includes input  416 , output  418 , and a communication connection  420 . The computer may operate in a networked environment using a communication connection to connect to one or more remote computers. The remote computer may include a personal computer, server, router, network PC, a peer device or other common network node, or the like. The communication connection may include a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN) or other networks.  
         [0018]    Computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium are executable by the processing unit  402  of the computer  410 . A hard drive, CD-ROM, and RAM are some examples of articles including a computer-readable medium. For example, a computer program  425  capable of providing a generic technique to perform access control check for data access and/or for doing an operation on one of the servers in a COM based system according to the teachings of the present invention may be included on a CD-ROM and loaded from the CD-ROM to a hard drive. The computer-readable instructions allow computer system  400  to provide generic access controls in a COM based computer network system having multiple users and servers.