System and method for delivering financial services

Abstract

A delivery system and method allow a financial institution to provide financial services to a plurality of remote devices, such as personal computers, personal data assistants, and screen phones. In addition to providing services to these remote devices, the system and method provide services to automatic teller machines (ATMs), external service providers, and internally within the financial institution to staff terminals and to the individual branches of the financial institution. The delivery of financial services is not limited to any particular network but rather may be provided through dial-in access, Internet access, on-line service provider access, or other types of delivery networks. The system is comprised of a set of re-usable global components which are modular and are organized into services sets. By separating the components of the system into independent components, the system and method can be developed and tested on a component level rather than the entire system level, thereby substantially reducing the development and maintenance cycle time. The system and method operate in sessions and, for instance, employ a dialog component for gathering information from a customer, a rule broker component for providing answers to the various legal and regulatory rules in a particular country, a language man component for selecting appropriate language, a transaction executor component for performing transactions, and a presentation manager component for formatting outputs to the customer. The system and method provide state-of-the art interfaces with interface components and support legacy applications with legacy app bridge components. A system management aspect of invention makes use of an agent set that provides a communication mechanism such that managed components of the system can be queried for their status, as well as the concept of instrumentation in which software monitors the hardware devices that are part of the system.

1 . A method for managing a financial services delivery system component, comprising:
 monitoring at least one managed component in regard to at least one of an instrument variable aspect and an event aspect of the managed component;   generating an alarm relative to the managed component;   translating the alarm into a remote system management protocol format; and   providing the formatted alarm to an external system management component via an external interface.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring the managed component further comprises monitoring the managed component by a status monitor agent. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein monitoring the managed component in regard to the instrument variable aspect further comprises receiving a notification by the status monitor agent of a change in at least one value of an instrument owned by the managed component. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein monitoring the managed component in regard to the instrument variable aspect further comprises registering by the status monitor agent for notification of the change. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein monitoring the managed component in regard to the instrument variable aspect further comprises receiving the notification of the change in the instrument selected from a group of instruments consisting of a counter instrument, a bounded counter instrument, a status instrument, and a control instrument. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring the managed component in regard the event aspect further comprises registering with an event broker by the status monitor agent for notification of at least one event relative to the managed component. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring the managed component further comprises periodically polling the managed component by the status monitor agent to determine if a local action is required. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring the managed component further comprises periodically polling the managed component by the status monitor agent to determine if notification of an external system management component is required. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the alarm further comprises generating an event by one of an instrument owned by the managed component and an event broker. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein generating the alarm by the instrument further comprises generating the event by the instrument through the managed component. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the alarm further comprises initiating one of a local action and an inquiry regarding the managed component through a command dispatch agent. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein generating the alarm further comprises initiating one of the local action and the inquiry by a rule based state machine maintained by a status monitoring agent. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the alarm further comprises sending an unsolicited notification of one of an event and a change in an instrument owned by the managed component. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein generating the alarm further comprises sending the unsolicited notification via an event notification interface published by a status monitoring agent. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein translating the alarm further comprises translating the alarm by a management protocol agent. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein translating the alarm further comprises translating the alarm for the external system management component. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein translating the alarm further comprises translating the alarm into a remote management protocol format. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing the alarm further comprises providing the formatted alarm by a management protocol agent. 
   
   
       19 . A system for managing a financial services delivery system component, comprising:
 means for monitoring at least one managed component in regard to at least one of an instrument variable aspect and an event aspect of the managed component;   means for generating an alarm relative to the managed component;   means for translating the alarm into a remote system management protocol format; and   means for providing the formatted alarm to an external system management component via an external interface.   
   
   
       20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for monitoring the managed component further comprises means for monitoring the managed component by a status monitor agent. 
   
   
       21 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the means for monitoring the managed component in regard to the instrument variable aspect further comprises means for receiving a notification by the status monitor agent of a change in at least one value of an instrument owned by the managed component. 
   
   
       22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the means for monitoring the managed component in regard to the instrument variable aspect further comprises means for registering by the status monitor agent for notification of the change. 
   
   
       23 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the means for monitoring the managed component in regard to the instrument variable aspect further comprises means for receiving the notification of the change in the instrument selected from a group of instruments consisting of a counter instrument, a bounded counter instrument, a status instrument, and a control instrument. 
   
   
       24 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for monitoring the managed component in regard the event aspect further comprises means for registering with an event broker by the status monitor agent for notification of at least one event relative to the managed component. 
   
   
       25 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for monitoring the managed component further comprises means for periodically polling the managed component by the status monitor agent to determine if a local action is required. 
   
   
       26 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for monitoring the managed component further comprises means for periodically polling the managed component by the status monitor agent to determine if notification of an external system management component is required. 
   
   
       27 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for generating the alarm further comprises means for generating an event by one of an instrument owned by the managed component and an event broker. 
   
   
       28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the means for generating the alarm by the instrument further comprises means for generating the event by the instrument through the managed component. 
   
   
       29 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for generating the alarm further comprises means for initiating one of a local action and an inquiry regarding the managed component through a command dispatch agent. 
   
   
       30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the means for generating the alarm further comprises means for initiating one of the local action and the inquiry by a rule based state machine maintained by a status monitoring agent. 
   
   
       31 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for generating the alarm further comprises means for sending an unsolicited notification of one of an event and a change in an instrument owned by the managed component. 
   
   
       32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the means for generating the alarm further comprises means for sending the unsolicited notification via an event notification interface published by a status monitoring agent. 
   
   
       33 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for translating the alarm further comprises means for translating the alarm by a management protocol agent. 
   
   
       34 . The system of  claim 33 , wherein the means for translating the alarm further comprises means for translating the alarm for the external system management component. 
   
   
       35 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the means for translating the alarm further comprises means for translating the alarm into a remote management protocol format. 
   
   
       36 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the means for providing the alarm further comprises means for providing the formatted alarm by a management protocol agent. 
   
   
       37 . A method for managing a financial services delivery system component, comprising:
 monitoring at least one managed component by a status monitor agent in regard to at least one of an instrument variable aspect and an event aspect of the managed component;   generating an alarm relative to the managed component by one of an instrument owned by the managed component and an event broker.   translating the alarm by a management protocol agent into a remote system management protocol format for the external system management component; and   providing the formatted alarm to an external system management component by the management protocol agent via an external interface.   
   
   
       38 . A system for managing a financial services delivery system component, comprising:
 a status monitor agent for monitoring at least one managed component in regard to at least one of an instrument variable aspect and an event aspect of the managed component;   one of an instrument owned by the managed component and an event broker for generating an alarm relative to the managed component; and   a management protocol agent for translating the alarm into a remote system management protocol format for the external system management component and providing the formatted alarm to an external system management component via an external interface.