Patent Publication Number: US-8538827-B1

Title: Real-time alert during on-line transaction

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The invention is generally related to electronic commerce, and more particularly, to on-line shopping. Consumers purchase various items on-line from merchant websites such as AMAZON.COM, EBAY.COM and other websites using a credit card or other form of electronic payment. Given the ease and speed with which on-line shopping can be performed, it is not uncommon for consumers to be more likely to purchase items on-line from the comfort of their homes or offices, particularly considering electronic payment is utilized for payment. As such, consumers may not appreciate how much an item actually costs since the consumer is not at the store and not paying with cash or writing a check, which may cause the consumer to better understand or appreciate the cost. Thus, consumers occasionally make “impulse” on-line purchases. They browse merchant websites, see what they want, and click a button to purchase an item, and can receive the item quickly at their door without ever stepping foot into a merchant store, and often times without paying sales tax and/or shipping costs. 
     Given the ease, benefits and speed of on-line shopping, consumers often fail to review their budgets or financial accounts, particularly since on-line transactions can be completed very quickly with a click of a button. Thus, consumers are not inclined to stop their on-line shopping experience and take the time to log into one or more separate accounts to assess budgets, credit card limits and/or fund availability. These extra steps are inconvenient and time consuming and are often not even considered by consumers when making on-line purchases, particularly when websites such as AMAZON.COM store credit card information such that consumers can simply select a previously used credit card for a purchase, further contributing to impulsive and speed of on-line purchases. On-line shopping can have an element of excitement such that the consumer is not interested in budgets or financial summaries. 
     Thus, consumers often experience post-transaction regret by realizing later (e.g., when the consumer receives a credit card bill) that an on-line purchase caused the consumer to go over budget or other financial difficulties. This after the fact accounting can cause problems and complications with consumer finances and budgets. 
     SUMMARY 
     Certain embodiments are related to computer-implemented methods for alerting a consumer during an on-line transaction. One method embodiment includes detecting, with an add-on (such as a plug-in) to a web browser executing on a first computer of the consumer, when the consumer is in the process of purchasing an item from the merchant during an on-line transaction during which the consumer accesses a website hosted by a second computer of the merchant. The first computer with the plug-in accesses an account of the consumer hosted by a financial management system (FMS) in response to detecting an on-line transaction before the on-line transaction is completed. For this purpose, for example, the add-on may utilize an application program interface (API) of the FMS to identify data of the consumer&#39;s account, financial summary, budget or profile. 
     The account, financial summary, budget or profile includes or specifies alert criteria. The first computer with the plug-in compares data of the on-line transaction and the alert criteria, and generates an alert that is displayed to the consumer if execution of the on-line transaction would generate a pre-determined result relative to the alert criteria before the on-line transaction has been completed, e.g., if the transaction causes an account balance to fall below a specified balance. 
     A further embodiment is directed to a method for receiving a real-time alert during an on-line transaction. The method comprises downloading an add-on to a web browser (such as a plug-in to the browser) that executes on a first computer of a consumer (such as a desktop or laptop computer or mobile communication device that has computing components for conducting on-line transactions). The method further comprises visiting a merchant website hosted by a second computer using the web browser, beginning an on-line transaction at the merchant website using the web browser, and before the on-line transaction has been completed, viewing an alert generated by the add-on and generated based at least in part upon a pre-determined result relative to the alert criteria that would occur if the on-line transaction is allowed to be completed. The consumer may then respond to the alert and, in certain embodiments, complete the on-line transaction. In other embodiments, the plug-in interrupts or blocks the on-line transaction. 
     Yet another embodiment is directed to a system for alerting a consumer during an on-line transaction that comprises an add-on to a web browser (such as a plug-in) and a financial management system. The web browser executes on a first computer of the consumer and is programmed, configured or operable to detect when the consumer is in the process of purchasing an item from the merchant during an on-line transaction involving a second computer of a merchant in communication with the first computer. In response, the add-on communicates with a third computer to access data of a FMS utilized by the consumer to access an account, financial summary, budget or profile of the consumer hosted by the FMS. The account comprises alert criteria, and the add-on is operable to compare the alert criteria with on-line transaction data before the on-line transaction has been completed, and generate an alert that is displayed to the consumer if execution of the on-line transaction would generate a pre-determined result relative to the alert criteria. 
     Another embodiment is directed to an add-on such as a plug-in to a web browser that is operable to alert a consumer during an on-line transaction while the consumer utilizes a first computer to access a second computer of a merchant. The add-on is downloadable to the first computer through a second network and being operable to detect when the consumer in the process of purchasing an item from the merchant during the on-line transaction, and communicate with a financial management system hosted by a third computer through a third network to access an account, financial summary, budget or profile of the consumer hosted by the financial management system in response to detecting the on-line transaction. The account comprises alert criteria accessed by the add-on before the on-line transaction is completed. The add-on is operable to compare data of the on-line transaction and the alert criteria, and generate an alert that is displayed to the consumer if execution of the on-line transaction would generate a pre-determined result relative to the alert criteria before the on-line transaction has been completed. 
     A further embodiment is directed to a computer program product comprising a non-transitory, computer readable storage medium having instructions which, when executed by a first computer of a consumer, cause the one or more processors to execute a process for alerting the consumer during an on-line transaction, the process comprising detecting when the consumer is in the process of purchasing an item from the merchant during an on-line transaction involving a second computer of a merchant in communication with the first computer, accessing an account, financial summary, budget or profile of the consumer hosted by a financial management system in response to detecting the on-line transaction, the account comprising alert criteria accessed by the add-on before the on-line transaction is completed, comparing data of the on-line transaction and the alert criteria, and generating an alert that is displayed to the consumer if execution of the on-line transaction would generate a pre-determined result relative to the alert criteria before the on-line transaction has been completed. 
     In a single or multiple embodiments, the add-on detects that the consumer is in the process of purchasing the item during the on-line transaction based at least in part upon at least one transaction indicator, which may be data displayed by the web browser. The transaction indicator may be a pre-determined URL address or pre-determined on-line merchant (e.g., AMAZON, AMAZON.COM, E-BAY, E-BAY.COM), a pre-determined word or phrase associated with an on-line transaction (e.g., “shopping card” or “checkout” or transaction terms such as “tax,” “total,” “shipping address,” and “billing address,”, and a credit card number or portion thereof (e.g., while the consumer is in the process of typing the credit card number). 
     In a single or multiple embodiments, whether an alert is generated by the add-on may depend upon whether execution of the on-line transaction to purchase the item lead to a pre-determined result such as the consumer exceeding a predetermined credit card balance, exceeding a predetermined budget amount for purchases of the item, exceeding a predetermined budget amount for purchase from the merchant, or a balance of a financial account (e.g., checking or savings) of the consumer falling below a predetermined minimum balance. 
     In a single or multiple embodiments, the alert is displayed in response to the consumer visiting a certain URL address of a merchant and/or at different stages of an on-line transaction, e.g., when the consumer adds an item to an electronic shopping cart of a website of the merchant, when the consumer proceeds to checkout with the item already added to an electronic shopping cart, when the consumer selects a credit card or manually enters credit card information. 
     In a single or multiple embodiments, the alert is a passive alert. In other words, the add-on does not exert any control over the consumer or the website. For example, the alert may be in the form of an informative notification or warning within a pop-up window or other message format indicating that execution of the on-line transaction at issue would result in the consumer&#39;s savings account falling below a minimum balance. 
     In other embodiments, the alert is an active alert that may impart some type of control over the consumer computer and/or website to affect how the consumer can proceed with the on-line transaction if at all. For example, the alert may institute a waiting or cooling off period before the consumer is allowed to complete the on-line transaction. The alert may also present the consumer with various choices or input elements for canceling the transaction, proceeding with the transaction, or saving or bookmarking the transaction so that the transaction is not completed when the alert is issued but the consumer can revisit the transaction at a later time. The waiting or cooling off period, which may be 30 seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks or months, may be selected by the consumer as part of an alert setup or configuration. The alert may also interact with the browser and/or merchant website to disable certain features to prevent the consumer from proceeding with the on-line transaction, or redirect the consumer to another website. 
     In a single or multiple embodiments, the add-on may be a plug-in to a web browser, examples of which include, but are not limited to, GOOGLE CHROME, INTERNET EXPLORER, MOZILLA FIREFOX, etc., and a financial management system may, for example, be FINANCEWORKS, MINT, QUICKEN, MICROSOFT MONEY, etc. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing and other aspects of embodiments are described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for alerting consumers in real time during an on-line transaction; 
         FIGS. 2A-B  illustrate embodiments of systems constructed according to certain embodiments for alerting consumers in real time during an on-line transaction utilizing an add-on such as a plug-in to a web browser utilized to access a merchant website and execute an on-line transaction; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates method steps during which a consumer registers with or utilizes a financial management system and downloads an add-on to the web browser; 
         FIG. 4  is a table that is accessed by an add-on to a web browser and that illustrates different types of alert criteria for respective types of accounts and budgets; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a method for alerting consumers in real time during an on-line transaction using an add-on or plug-in to a web browser; 
         FIG. 6  is a table that is accessed by an add-on to a web browser and that illustrates different types of transaction indicators that may trigger the add-on to compare data of a pending on-line transaction and alert criteria; 
         FIG. 7  generally illustrates different types of inputs that may be received by an add-on or plug-in to a web browser according to embodiments; 
         FIG. 8A  is a flow diagram of generating a passive alert during an on-line transaction according to one embodiment, and  FIG. 8B  illustrates an example of a passive alert in the form of a pop-up window; 
         FIG. 9A  is a flow diagram of generating an active alert during an on-line transaction according to one embodiment, and  FIG. 9B  illustrates an example of an active alert in the form of a pop-up window with user input elements that may cause interruption to or block the pending on-line transaction; 
         FIGS. 10A-F  illustrate examples of situations in which an add-on or plug-in to a web browser generates an alert that is displayed to a consumer during an on-line transaction based at least in part upon a consumer budget, available credit and minimum account balances; and 
         FIG. 11  is a block diagram of components of a computing apparatus or system in which various embodiments may be implemented or that may be utilized to execute various embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS 
     Embodiments are related to providing real-time alerts to consumers during an on-line transaction, i.e., before the on-line transaction has been completed such as before a consumer clicks “Proceed to Checkout” or “Place Your Order” to purchase an item and charge a credit card. In certain embodiments in which a browser executes on a computer to access a merchant website, the consumer downloads an add-on such as a plug-in to the browser. The browser is used to navigate pages of a merchant website and to begin an on-line transaction to purchase an item. Referring to  FIG. 1 , according to one embodiment of a method  100  for providing real-time alerts during on-line transactions involves a plug-in monitoring the consumer&#39;s activities or associated data and at  102 , determining or detecting when the consumer has begun or is in the process of an on-line transaction. At  104 , the plug-in accesses an account, financial summary, budget or profile (generally, account or financial summary) of the consumer hosted by a financial management system (FMS), examples of which include QUICKEN, MINT, FINANCEWORKS, MICROSOFT MONEY and/or another source with budget or bank or credit card account data. The plug-in compares alert criteria and data of the on-line transaction at  106 , and before the on-line transaction is completed, generates an alert at  108 . The alert is displayed to the consumer if execution of the on-line transaction would generate a pre-determined result (e.g., the consumer would go over budget or a checking account balance would fall below a minimum balance). 
     For example, the plug-in may generate an alert in the form of a pop-up window with a message informing the consumer about how the amount of the on-line purchase would cause the consumer to go over budget for a certain period of time, for a certain category or type of purchase, or purchases made from a certain merchant. In this manner, consumers are alerted of potential budget or finance issues before an on-line transaction is completed as opposed to after the transaction is completed so that the consumer, knowing that information beforehand, is informed about how that transaction will affect the consumer&#39;s budgets or finances. Otherwise, if the comparison would not generate a pre-determined result (e.g., the purchase would not cause the consumer to go over budget), the plug-in executes in the background without generating an alert or notification and without interrupting the on-line transaction. Further aspects of embodiments are described in further detail with reference to  FIGS. 2A-11 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2A-B , a system  200  constructed according to one embodiment for generating real-time alerts  214  during an on-line transaction comprises or involves a consumer  215  that utilizes a computing apparatus  210 , a merchant  225  that operates a website  221  hosted on merchant computer  220 , and a host  235  that manages a computer  230  including a financial management system  240  (FMS  240 ). Consumer computer  210  is in communication with or operably coupled to merchant computer  220  and host computer  230  via respective networks  250   a - b . In the illustrated embodiment, the FMS  240  is in communication with computers  260   a - c  (generally,  260 ) of respective financial institutions  265   a - c  (generally, FI  265 ) via respective networks  250   c - e . Merchant computer  220  is also in communication with one or more FI computers via network  250   f , e.g., a computer of a credit card company. In certain embodiments, FMS  240  receives electronic transaction data  261   a - c  (generally,  261 ) generated or stored by FI computers  260  and incorporates electronic transaction data  261  into an account, financial summary, budget or profile (generally, account or financial summary  245 ) of the consumer  215 . The account or financial summary  245  can be generated by the FMS  240  or by the consumer  215  using the FMS  240 . In other embodiments, the account or financial summary  245  is generated by the consumer  215  using the FMS  240 , and it is not necessary for the FMS  240  to integrate electronic transaction data  261  received from FI computers  260  into the account or financial summary  245 . Thus,  FIGS. 2A-B  are provided to show one embodiment in which FMS  240  receives electronic transaction data  261  from FI computers  260 . 
     Examples of networks  250   a - e  (generally,  250 ) that may be utilized for communications between system  200  components include but are not limited to a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a wireless network, other suitable networks capable of transmitting data, and a combination of such networks. For ease of explanation, reference is made to a network  250  generally, but various networks, combinations of networks and communication systems, methods and protocols may be utilized. 
     The consumer computing apparatus  210  may be a desktop computer, laptop computer or other computing device such as a tablet computing device or mobile communication device such as a cellular telephone or Smartphone capable of wireless or cellular communication with the merchant computer  220  and host computer  230 . For ease of explanation, reference is made generally to a consumer computer  210 , which is defined to include computers and mobile and tablet computing devices capable of such communications. 
     In the illustrated embodiment, the consumer computer  210  includes a display  211 , and a web browser  212  that executes on the consumer computer  210  to display pages of a website  221  (generally, website or website pages  221 ) of the merchant  225  to the consumer  215 . Examples of web browsers  212  that may be utilized in embodiments include, for example, INTERNET EXPLORER, GOOGLE CHROME, MOZILLA FIREFOX. For ease of explanation, reference is made generally to a plug-in  213  to a web browser  212 . The consumer  215  navigates website pages  221  to view merchant  225  offerings and purchase items on-line from the merchant  225 . In the illustrated embodiment, an add-on  213 , such as a plug-in to the web browser  212 , is downloaded to the consumer computer  220 , e.g., from host computer  230  or another source and executed to implement embodiments or aspects thereof. 
     In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the computer  230  hosts FMS  240  and plug-in  213  may be downloaded from the FMS  240  or host computer  230  to the consumer computer  210 . Consumer  215  has an account or financial summary  245  prepared using or by the FMS  240 . The FMS  240  may, for example, be utilized to collect, organize and store financial and transaction data  261  and generate and present financial summaries  245  such as spending summaries, income summaries, budgets, etc. to the consumer  215  so that consumers  215  can analyze their spending, view spending categories, observe spending patterns, spending on certain items and purchases from certain merchants. Examples of a FMS  240  that may be utilized or adapted for use in embodiments include QUICKEN, MINT, FINANCEWORKS, and MICROSOFT Money. QUICKEN, MINT and FINANCEWORKS are registered trademarks of Intuit Inc., Mountain View, Calif. 
     In the illustrated embodiment, the plug-in  213  executes on consumer computer  210  and may utilize an application program interface (API)  217  or other suitable communications interface to communicate with the FMS  240  via network  250   b . The plug-in  213  is operable to capture, scan or read data of website pages  221  displayed to or visited by the consumer  215  as the consumer  215  as the consumer  215  navigates the website  221  to select an item to purchase on-line. For this purpose, the plug-in  213  may be configured or operable to perform or employ screen scraping or scanning of source data of the website  221  to determine whether the consumer  215  has begun or is in the process of an on-line transaction with the merchant  225 . 
     The FMS  240  may be a stand-alone program utilized by consumer  215  or in communication with computers  260  of FIs such as a bank, credit union or credit card company to receive electronic financial or transaction data  261  of the consumer  215 . For example, the consumer  215  may have respective bank accounts  262   a - c  (generally, bank or FI account  262 ) such as a checking, savings or credit card account that includes respective item-level transaction data  261   a - c  that may include account balances, transaction data (deposits, withdrawals, bill pay, etc.), credit limits, available credit, etc. A FMS  240  that may be utilized for these purposes includes, for example, desktop or on-line FMS  240  (as shown in  FIGS. 2A-B ) such as QUICKEN, MINT, FINANCEWORKS and MICROSOFT MONEY. 
     Thus, a FMS  240  is defined to include, any computing system implemented, on-line or web-based, system, package, program, module, or application that gathers financial and/or transaction data, has the capability to receive or retrieve and/or analyze such data and categorize at least part of the data into various reports or displays that are provided to consumer  215 , and provides consumer  215  with the capability to conduct, and/or monitor, financial transactions and data. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , before the consumer  215  visits a merchant website  221  to engage in on-line shopping, at  302 , the consumer  215  registers with or opens an account or financial summary  245  with the FMS  240 . For this purpose, the consumer  215  may provide information such as name, e-mail address, user ID and password and, if desired, information to allow the FMS  240  to link to the consumer&#39;s FI accounts  262  so that the FMS  240  can receive data  261  such as account balances, transactions etc. from FI computers  260  if such data is not entered or updated by the consumer  215 . The financial summary or account  245  allows the consumer  215  to track, organize and/or categorize transaction data  261  of one or more FIs  260  or to track, organize and/or categorize manually entered data. 
     At  304 , the consumer  215  selects or confirms alert criteria or rules  247  including, but not limited to, a budget for purchases made from merchant  225 , a budget for purchases of a particular item or category of items, or a budget for a certain period of time; maintaining minimum account balance; a maximum credit card balance and/or minimum available credit. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , alert criteria or rules  247  selected or confirmed by the consumer  215  may involve various types of bank accounts  262  or budgets of the consumer  215 . As generally shown in  FIG. 4 , the FMS  240  may generate and store a table including a column  402   a  for account or budget type and a column  402   b  for the corresponding criteria or rule. For example, the consumer  215  may have checking, savings and credit card accounts, and the account or financial summary  245  may be based particular items or categories of items (e.g., shirts and jeans are categorized as “clothing” by the FMS  240  and purchases made from a grocery store may be categorized as “food’). For example, the consumer  215  has specified that a checking account balance should not fall below $1,000, the balance due on a credit card should not exceed $5,000, and the consumer  215  has budgeted to spend up to $200 per month on purchases from AMAZON.COM. It will be understood that different accounts and budgets may be utilized, and that the alert criteria or rule  247  for each of those accounts and budgets may vary. Accordingly,  FIG. 4  is provided to generally illustrate how consumer  215  can select or confirm alert criteria or rules  247  for different bank accounts, balances, available credit, different merchants and items or categories thereof. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 3 , at  306 , the consumer  215  downloads the plug-in  213  to the web browser  212  so that the plug-in  213  executes on the consumer computer  210 . In the illustrated embodiment, the plug-in  213  is downloaded to the consumer computer  210  from the host computer  230  or FMS  240 . In other embodiments, the plug-in  212  can be downloaded from another computer that does not host the FMS  240 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , and with continuing reference to  FIGS. 2A-B , having downloaded the plug-in  213 , the consumer  215  wishes to browse a merchant website  221  for on-line shopping, and at  502 , executes the browser  212  to access a merchant website  221  such as AMAZON.COM. At  504 , the plug-in  213  monitors the consumer&#39;s activities on the website  221  (e.g., by screen scraping or scanning HTML source code of the website pages  221  displayed) to determine when the consumer  215  has initiated or is in the process of an on-line purchase or transaction. For this purpose, the plug-in  213  is operable, programmed or configured to monitor data of the website  221  during consumer navigation and data selection or entry to identify any on-line transaction indicators  227  or keywords, phrases and/or numbers associated with the consumer  215  being engaged in an on-line transaction (and before the transaction is completed). 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , the plug-in  213  may access a table of possible on-line transaction indicators  227 . The table may be downloaded and stored in local memory  219  of the consumer computer  215  when the plug-in  213  is downloaded, or the plug-in  213  may access the table stored on another computer via a network as shown in  FIG. 2A . In the illustrated example, the first column  602   a  of the table includes examples of different transaction indicators  227  related to the consumer&#39;s interaction or progress of an on-line transaction, and column  602   b  indicates whether such data is a transaction indicator  227  that would trigger the plug-in  213  to analyze whether it is necessary to generate and display an alert  214  to the consumer  215  during the on-line transaction. 
     For example, in the illustrated embodiment, even if the consumer  215  is at a website  221  known to be an on-line merchant such as AMAZON.COM, EBAY.COM or MACYS.COM, the plug-in  213  is configured to determine that such browsing activity, by itself, is not a transaction indicator  227  that warrants further action. In other embodiments, the plug-in  213  can be configured to be triggered to determine whether an alert  214  is necessary based on the website visited (e.g., according to a pre-determined Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address). 
     In the illustrated embodiment, a transaction indicator  227  requires more involvement by the consumer  215  who has navigated to a point of beginning a transaction such that the displayed page of the web site  221  includes words, phrases or numbers associated with an on-line transaction and/or credit card data. In these cases, the these types of data are transaction indicators  227  that trigger the plug-in  213  to analyze the on-line transaction data to determine how the transaction affects or relates to alert criteria  247  such as a budget, minimum account balance, etc. as discussed above. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , as a more detailed example, the plug-in  213 , in one embodiment, scraps, scans, reads or receives data in the form of words, phrases and/or numbers related to the consumer  215  selecting items and/or deciding to purchase selected items, and a credit card selected or entered by the consumer  215 . In the illustrated embodiment, transaction indicators  227  are in the form of keywords, phrases or numbers that indicate one or more of the consumer  215  has selected an item, added the item to a shopping cart, and is about to check out and purchase the item. 
     For example, the following words and phrases can be classified as transaction indicators  227  that trigger the plug-in  213  to determine whether an alert  214  should be generated: cart, shopping cart, delivery, sold by, delivery estimate, order number, invoice number, order date, payment, tax, total, shipping address, billing address, proceed to checkout, receipt, return and warranty. These words and phrases are classified as transaction indicators  227  since they all relate to a point in time during a transaction, i.e., before the transaction is completed and the order is placed. 
     Further, in the illustrated embodiment, transaction indicators  227  may be in the form of credit card data of the name of the issuer bank (e.g., MASTERCARD, VISA, DISCOVER), expiration date, and a credit card number, portion thereof, or blocked out portion thereof (e.g., “XXXX”), all of which indicate that the consumer  215  has selected an item, added the item to a shopping cart, and is about to check out and complete the on-line transaction using the credit card. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 5  and with continuing reference to  FIGS. 6-7 , the presence of a transaction indicator  227  triggers the plug-in  213  at  506 . When triggered, the plug-in  213  accesses the account or financial summary  245  of the consumer  215  generated with or hosted by the FMS  240  to determine whether an alert  214  should be displayed to the consumer  215  before the on-line transaction is completed. For this purpose, the plug-in  213  may access the FMS  240  via a network  250 , the FMS  240  may execute locally on the consumer computer  210  and receive updates periodically from the FMS  240  hosted on computer  230 , or the account or financial summary  245  can be generated on or downloaded and stored locally to the consumer computer  210  and updated periodically to eliminate accessing the FMS  240  when the plug-in  213  is triggered. 
     For this purpose, the plug-in  213  receives or determines on-line transaction data (e.g., one or more of transaction amount, items to be purchased, categories of items to be purchased, the merchant, the URL address of the website  221 ), and compares, in real time before the on-line transaction has been completed, data of the on-line transaction data or a result of executing the on-line transaction to the pre-determined alert criteria  247  (described above with reference to  FIG. 4 ). At  510 , the plug-in  213  generates an alert  214  that is displayed to the consumer  215  in real time before on-line transaction is completed if the on-line transaction would generate pre-determined result (e.g., credit card balance would exceed the maximum balance selected by the consumer, or a balance of an account used to pay credit card bills would drop below a minimum balance that was previously specified by the consumer). Otherwise, if the on-line transaction would not generate a pre-determined result, then no alert  214  is generated, and the plug-in  213  analysis is transparent to the consumer  215  who proceeds to complete the on-line transaction without being interrupted by the plug-in  213 . 
     For example, referring again to  FIG. 4 , in the illustrated embodiment, the consumer  215  specified that the maximum balance on Credit Card 1 should not exceed $5,000. The plug-in  213 , upon determining that execution of the on-line transaction using that credit card would result in a credit card balance of $5,500 would trigger the plug-in  213  to generate an alert  214 , which would inform the consumer  215  that execution of the on-line transaction will result in exceeding the previously specified maximum credit card balance of $5,000. However, if the on-line transaction using that credit card would not exceed the previously specified maximum balance, no alert  214  would be generated. 
     As another example, in the illustrated embodiment, the consumer  215  specified a budget in which purchases from a particular merchant  225 , such as AMAZON.COM, should not exceed $200 per month. The plug-in  213 , upon determining that execution of the on-line transaction would be $300 during that same time period would trigger the plug-in  213  to generate an alert  214  to inform the consumer  215  that execution of the on-line transaction would cause the consumer  215  to go over the $200 AMAZON.COM budget. However, if the on-line transaction would not exceed the previously specified budget for purchase from AMAZON.COM, then no alert  214  would be generated. It will be understood that the plug-in  213  may analyze one or multiple account attributes or budgets, and that an alert  214  may be triggered based on one or more results relative to these accounts or budgets. Thus,  FIG. 4  is provided as an example of the types of data that may be transaction indicators  227  that trigger the plug-in  213  to access an account or financial summary  245  and compare alert criteria  247  with data of the on-line transaction data to determine whether to generate a real-time alert  214 . 
     The plug-in  213  can alert  214  the consumer  215  in various ways and be passive or active by invoking some type of control over or interruption to the consumer  215  before the on-line transaction is completed. For example, referring to  FIGS. 8A-B , according to one embodiment, step  510  from  FIG. 5  involves the plug-in  213  being triggered to access alert criteria  247  (e.g., a pre-determined budget for AMAZON.COM purchases), compare the alert criteria  247  to data of the on-line transaction to determine that execution of the on-line transaction would generate pre-determined result (e.g., go over budget) relative to the alert criteria  247 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 8B , at  802 , the alert  214  generated by the plug-in  213  and displayed to the consumer  215  in the form of a pop-up window  850  or other message format that informs the consumer  215 , for example, that this on-line transaction will cause the consumer  215  to go over the AMAZON.COM budget. Thus, this type of alert  214  is passive or informative in that there is no input by the consumer  215  or restrictions placed on the consumer  215 . At  804 , the consumer  215  can close the alert window  850  and decide whether to proceed with or terminate the on-line transaction utilizing the user interface of the merchant website  215 . 
     Further, in certain embodiments, at  806 , the plug-in  213  may generate and send an electronic message, such as an electronic mail message, to another computer or mobile communication device informing the recipient of the alert  214 . For example, such communications may be utilized in situations in which a parent wants to monitor on-line purchases of child, sets a budget for spending by the child using the FMS  240 , and is alerted when the child is attempting to or has completed an on-line transaction that goes over the parent-specified budget. 
     Referring to  FIG. 9A , according to another embodiment, step  510  of  FIG. 5  involves the plug-in  213  determining that execution of on-line transaction would generate pre-determined result relative to alert criteria  247  as discussed above, and at  902 , the plug-in  213  generates and displays an alert  214  that is active. According to certain embodiments, the active alert  214  may also be in the form of a window message but provides for some type of input or control by the consumer  215  (other than closing the window message as in a passive alert), interrupts the consumer  215 , alters the consumer&#39;s interaction with the merchant website  221 , and/or prevents the consumer  215  from completing the on-line transaction. 
     Referring to  FIG. 9B , according to one embodiment, an active alert  214  is in the form of a window or other message including one or more input elements or buttons that can be selected by the consumer  215 . In the illustrated embodiment, the active alert  214  includes a first input element or button  910   a  that can be clicked or selected to allow the consumer  215  to proceed with the on-line transaction, a second input element or button  910   b  that terminates the transaction, e.g., by closing the browser  212 , closing the merchant webpage  221  or directing the consumer  215  from the merchant website  221  to another website such as a home page, and a third input element  910   c  allows allow the consumer  215  to save or bookmark the current location so that the on-line transaction can be completed at a later time. Thus, in these examples, the plug-in  213  interrupts or delays the consumer&#39;s interaction with the merchant website  221 . For these purposes, the plug-in  213  may be configured to override the merchant website  221  or interface or interact with the merchant website  221  to achieve the desired interruption or restrictions placed upon the consumer  215 . 
     While certain types and numbers of input elements  910  have been disclosed, it will be understood that embodiments may include different numbers of input elements  910  that provide for different functionality, that an alert  214  may be positioned to block or certain merchant website elements or buttons. For example, the alert  214  can be positioned within a web page displayed to cover a “place order” button “proceed to checkout” button to prevent the consumer  215  from pressing the last button to complete the transaction and block or temporarily halt the transaction. An active alert  214  may even terminate the on-line transaction by closing the merchant website  221 , redirect the consumer  215  to another webpage such as a home page, or close the browser  221 . Further, similar to a passive alert as described above, the plug-in  213  may generate and send an electronic message, such as an electronic mail message, to another computer or mobile communication device informing the recipient of the active alert  214  at  906 . 
     In other embodiments, rather than input elements  910  as shown in  FIG. 9B , the active alert  214  may be a window with an alert message that allows the consumer to proceed only after the pre-determined waiting or cooling off period. For this purpose, the alert  214  may include a timer that counts down the time when the consumer  215  is allowed to continue with the on-lien transaction. Further, in another embodiment, the plug-in  213  may require the consumer  215  to log into the FMS  240  to view the account or budget that is the subject of an alert  214 . For this purpose, the plug-in  213  can be configured or programmed to interface with the FMS  240  via the API  227 , present fields for entry of a username and password or other login information by the consumer  215 , and connect the consumer  215  to the FMS  240  and pertinent account or budget for which the alert  214  was generated to allow the consumer  215  to view the account or budget. In yet another embodiment, the active alert  214  blocks or terminates the on-line transaction without input by the consumer  215 . Accordingly, it will be understood that various types of active alerts  214  having different interruptive effects upon the consumer  215  can be implemented, and active alerts  214  may or may not allow for consumer  215  input, and may or may not allow the consumer  215  to proceed with the on-line transaction. 
       FIGS. 10A-F  illustrate examples of the data maintained by the plug-in  213  locally on the consumer computer  210  and/or the FMS  240  on the host computer  230 , and how alert criteria  247  based upon an account, financial summary, budget or profile  245  of the consumer  215  utilized to determine whether an alert  214  should be generated and displayed during an on-line transaction. 
     Referring to  FIG. 10A , the consumer  215  may have selected a budget of $200 for the month of April. The budget may be for on-line purchases made during a particular time (e.g., during April), from a particular merchant or of a particular item or category thereof. The FMS  240  maintains a table or other data structure that is used to track consumer spending (e.g., based upon checking account and/or credit card account transaction histories) relative to the budget to determine if or when an alert should be issued during an on-line transaction. In the illustrated example, the table includes columns  1002   a - d  for prior transactions on April 1 and April 3 in the amounts of $20 and $75, the resulting remaining budget of $105, and an indication of whether the consumer has gone over budget and whether an alert should be issued. The bottom row includes data of a current on-line transaction that consumer  215  is currently in the process of completing. In this example, the plug-in  213  determines the amount of the current on-line transaction, accesses the transaction/budget data in the table, and determines that if this on-line transaction is completed, the consumer  215  will go over budget by $45 such that an alert  214  should be generated and displayed to the consumer  214  before the transaction is completed. 
       FIG. 10B  illustrates another example in which the plug-in  213  determines whether to generate and display an alert if the current on-line transaction that has not yet been completed would cause the consumer  215  to come within a pre-determined amount (e.g., $25 as shown in column  1002   e ) of the budget amount (e.g., $200). In this example, the current on-line transaction in the amount of $100 (bottom row) would cause the consumer  215  to come within $5 of the budget amount. As such, the plug-in  213  would generate an alert  214  since the on-line transaction would cause the consumer  215  to come within the pre-determined amount of the budget, even if the consumer  215  would not go over budget. 
     Referring to  FIG. 10C , a further example, instead of generating an alert  214  if the consumer  215  goes over budget, the alert  215  is generated if the current transaction that is not yet completed would cause the consumer  215  to exceed the amount of available credit. In the illustrated example, a table, based on $5,000 of credit available, includes columns  1012   a - e  for a starting credit card account balance ($4,000), transaction amounts, remaining credit following the transactions, indications whether the consumer  215  has or will exceed the amount of available credit and whether an alert  214  should be generated. In the illustrated example, the last completed transaction resulted in the consumer having $550 in available credit, whereas the current on-line transaction that consumer is currently in the process of completing (bottom row) is in the amount of $800. With these inputs, the plug-in  213  determines that the consumer  215  will exceed the available credit such that an alert  214  should be generated and displayed to the consumer  215 . 
       FIG. 10D  illustrates another example in which the plug-in  213  determines whether to generate and display an alert  214  if the current on-line transaction that has not yet been completed would cause the consumer  215  to come within a pre-determined amount (e.g., $200 as in column  1112   f ) of the credit limit in which case the plug-in  213  may generate an alert  214  even if the consumer  215  would not exceed the amount of available credit. 
     Referring to  FIG. 10E , a further example involves generating an alert  214  if the bank account (e.g., a checking account) that will be utilized to pay the credit card bill resulting from the current on-line transaction that is not yet completed would cause the consumer&#39;s account balance to fall below a per-determined minimum balance. In the illustrated example, the table, based on maintaining a minimum account balance of $2,000, includes columns  1032   a - e  for a starting account balance ($3,000) (Start Bal), transaction amounts, account balances after the transactions (End Bal), indications whether the account balance would fall below a pre-determined minimum balance (Min Bal) and whether an alert  214  should be generated. In the illustrated example, the last completed transaction resulted in the consumer  215  having an account balance in the amount of $2550, whereas if that account will be utilized to pay for a current on-line transaction in the amount of $800 (bottom row) that the consumer  215  is currently in the process of completing, that account balance would fall to $1750 (less than the minimum balance of $2000). With these inputs, the plug-in  213  determines that the consumer&#39;s account balance will fall below the minimum balance and generates and displays an alert  214  to the consumer  215 . 
       FIG. 10F  illustrates another example in which the plug-in  213  determines whether to generate and display an alert  214  if the current on-line transaction that has not yet been completed would cause the consumer  215  to come within a pre-determined amount (e.g., $200 as in column  1122   f ) of the minimum balance, in which case the plug-in may  213  generate an alert  214  even if the consumer&#39;s account balance would be remain higher than the minimum balance. 
       FIG. 11  generally illustrates components of a computing device  1100  that may be utilized to execute embodiments and that includes a memory  1110 , account processing program instructions  1112 , a processor or controller  1120  to execute account processing program instructions  1112 , a network or communications interface  1130 , e.g., for communications with a network or interconnect  1140  between such components. The memory  1110  may be or include one or more of cache, RAM, ROM, SRAM, DRAM, RDRAM, EEPROM and other types of volatile or non-volatile memory capable of storing data. The processor unit  1120  may be or include multiple processors, a single threaded processor, a multi-threaded processor, a multi-core processor, or other type of processor capable of processing data. Depending on the particular system component (e.g., whether the component is a computer or a hand held mobile communications device), the interconnect  1140  may include a system bus, LDT, PCI, ISA, or other types of buses, and the communications or network interface may, for example, be an Ethernet interface, a Frame Relay interface, or other interface. The network interface  1130  may be configured to enable a system component to communicate with other system components across a network which may be a wireless or various other networks. It should be noted that one or more components of computing device  1100  may be located remotely and accessed via a network. Accordingly, the system configuration provided in  FIG. 11  is provided to generally illustrate how embodiments may be configured and implemented. 
     Method embodiments may also be embodied in, or readable from, a computer-readable medium or carrier, e.g., one or more of the fixed and/or removable data storage data devices and/or data communications devices connected to a computer. Carriers may be, for example, magnetic storage medium, optical storage medium and magneto-optical storage medium. Examples of carriers include, but are not limited to, a floppy diskette, a memory stick or a flash drive, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, or other carrier now known or later developed capable of storing data. The processor  1120  performs steps or executes program instructions  1112  within memory  1110  and/or embodied on the carrier to implement method embodiments. Further, embodiments may reside and execute on a mobile communication device such as a cellular telephone or Smartphone. 
     Although particular embodiments have been shown and described, it should be understood that the above discussion is not intended to limit the scope of these embodiments. While embodiments and variations of the many aspects of the invention have been disclosed and described herein, such disclosure is provided for purposes of explanation and illustration only. Thus, various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the claims. 
     For example, while certain embodiments are described with reference to a consumer or individual navigating merchant website to purchase an item on-line, it will be understood that embodiments may be utilized by other types of consumers including corporate and government consumers, in which case the corporate or government consumer, for example, may select or specify budgets related to available cash flow or credit. 
     Further, while embodiments are described with reference to performing screen scraping, scanning or reading data of one or a small number of pages of the merchant&#39;s website, it may be the case that the consumer navigates other numbers of pages or screens including tens or hundreds of pages or screens, and the plug-in may scrape, scan or read all of these pages to determine whether to issue an alert to a consumer. 
     Moreover, while certain embodiments are described with reference to key words or phrases that indicate an on-line transaction is in the process of being completed, it will be understood that other terminology may also be utilized, and the data accessed by the plug-in can be updated or revised accordingly to include transaction indicators of other websites of other merchants. For example, while one merchant may refer to “proceed to checkout” other merchants may refer to “complete purchase.” Thus, it will be understood that embodiments may be utilized to generate and display an alert to a consumer at various stages of an on-line transaction in real time, at the point of sale, before the on-line transaction is completed. 
     Moreover, while embodiments are described with reference to a FMS such as MINT, QUICKEN, FINANCEWORKS and MICROSOFT MONEY, embodiments may also be utilized with other FMS, and the type of FMS utilized may vary depending on the consumer and on-line shopping needs. 
     Further, alerts generated by the plug-in may be passive or active, and alerts may include various types of functionality. 
     The plug-in can also be downloaded from the FMS or host computer or from another source or computer. 
     It will also be understood that embodiments may involve a consumer using a desktop or laptop computer as well as a mobile communication device such as a Smartphone to browse a merchant website and purchase items on-line. Thus, the plug-in can be downloaded to such computers and mobile communication devices. Further, it will be understood that embodiments implemented using a mobile communication device may involve a browser and add-on as described above or a native application that executes on the mobile communication device and that is utilized for on-line purchases. A native application may or may not utilize an add-on to implement embodiments depending on how the native application is configured, but in in both browser/add-on and native application embodiments, an alert is displayed to the consumer before a transaction is completed. 
     Additionally, while embodiments describe the plug-in accessing data hosted by a FMS to determine whether an alert should be generated, such alert criteria and/or FMS data of the consumer&#39;s account or financial summary can be stored locally on the consumer computer or mobile communication device such that it is not necessary to access the host computer each time. Instead, the locally stored transaction indicators, alert criteria and FMS or financial summary data can be stored locally. 
     While embodiments are described with reference to an individual consumer and a particular merchant, embodiments may also be applied to the same consumer and multiple merchants, multiple consumers and the same merchant, and multiple consumers and respective merchants so that different consumers can be alerted as necessary based on their respective alert criteria and FMS accounts or financial summaries. 
     Additionally, while the on-line transaction and plug-in are described with reference to payment in the form of a credit card, the merchant website may accept, and the plug-in can analyze, other types of payments including, but not limited to debit card, check, electronic check, ATM withdrawal, ACH and other forms of electronic payment. 
     Further, according to other embodiments, the plug-in is configured to determine the amount of the on-line transaction, and if the amount is less than a pre-determined amount, the plug-in may skip over on-line transactions involving smaller amounts but analyze on-line transactions involving large amounts. For example, a plug-in may be configured to ignore transactions involving $20 or less so that the consumer is not alerted when transaction amounts are not significant. 
     Moreover, while certain embodiments are described with reference to a particular account balance or available credit, the plug-in may also be configured or operable to determine whether an alert should be generated and displayed based at least in part upon the result of the transaction causing the new balance or available credit to come within a pre-determined amount of the balance or available credit of the alert criteria. This provides some flexibility or cushion. For example, the consumer may specify that an alert should be generated when an on-line transaction would cause a savings account balance to fall within $100 of $500, or if the available credit would fall within $300 of $1000 of available credit. 
     Embodiments may also be applicable to monitor, interrupt or limit on-line purchases or on-line transactions for different purposes such as a parent monitoring spending by a child or a spouse monitoring spending of another. Other applications may involve monitoring individuals with on-line gambling problems such that if the individual is engaged in on-line gambling for a certain amount of time, has placed a bet that is too large, or has lost or will lose too much money than allowed by the alert criteria, an alert can be generated by the plug-in to interrupt, halt or block any further on-line gambling activities. 
     Where methods and steps described above indicate certain events occurring in certain order, those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure would recognize that the ordering of certain steps may be modified and that such modifications are in accordance with the variations of the invention. Additionally, certain of the steps may be performed concurrently in a parallel process when possible, as well as performed sequentially. 
     Accordingly, embodiments are intended to exemplify alternatives, modifications, and equivalents that may fall within the scope of the claims.