# US 8,014,756 B1 · Mobile authorization service

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 8,014,756 B1
- Document ID: US8014756B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 11/680,402
- Filed: 2007-02-28
- Granted: 2011-09-06
- Earliest claimed: 2007-02-28
- Assignees: Intuit Inc.
- Inventors: Kenneth Henderson
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8014756B1

## CPC

- H04M 3/38: Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections (queuing arrangements H04Q3/64)
- G06Q 10/103: {Workflow collaboration or project management}
- G06Q 20/322: {Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]}
- G06Q 20/40: Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
- G06Q 20/401: {Transaction verification}
- G06Q 50/18: Legal services
- G16H 10/60: for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
- H04M 3/42382: {Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks}
- H04M 2203/6081: Service authorization mechanisms
- H04M 2207/18: wireless networks
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA

## Abstract

A mobile authorization service may be implemented as a web-based service, hosted on an authorization service server, and may exchange messages with various computing devices of subscribers to the service, including mobile communication devices. The service may be implemented as a software application executing on the server, and may include a client portion executing on subscriber computer systems and/or mobile communication devices, or subscribers may interact with the service using a text messaging application or a web browsing application. The service may receive an authorization request from a subscriber and may send a request message to an approver. The approver may send a reply message to the service indicating an answer. After authenticating the reply, the service may provide a response to the requester. The service may store information regarding authorization requests and responses. An authorization service subscriber account may be configurable for an individual or corporate subscriber.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising program instructions computer-executable, to implement a method, comprising:
receiving an authorization request from a requester;
determining at least one user approver authorized to approve the authorization request and the number of approvers required to approve the request, wherein to determine the at least one user approver, consideration is given to the identity of a third party optionally identified in the request on whose behalf the authorization request is made, the location of the requestor, the location of individual potential approvers, and the requestor's job grade;
sending a request message to at least the number of required user approvers, the request message including an indicator of priority or urgency, wherein sending a request message to at least the number of required user approvers comprises contacting at least one of the user approvers for both a verbal authorization and an authenticated approval through the network, wherein if the number of approvers required for the given authorization request is more than one, the more than one required approvers operate to approve or deny the request in parallel with the other approvers of the more than one required approvers;
sending, if one or more of the user approver's answers includes a denial of the request, the request to one or more additional user approvers authorized to approve the request;
wherein at least one of said receiving an authorization request, said sending a response, said sending a request message, and said receiving a reply message comprise communicating via a mobile communication device.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the approver's answer comprises one or more of: an approval, a rejection, a request for more information, and a comment.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the reply message comprises authentication information identifying the approver, and wherein said authenticating the reply message comprises comparing the authentication information to information previously stored for use in authenticating messages from one or more approvers.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, wherein the authentication information comprises one or more of: a personal identification number (PIN), a digital signature, an audio file comprising a voice command, a digital representation of a scanned thumbprint or retina, or an image file comprising a scanned thumbprint or retina.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising storing information regarding the authorization request.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein said storing information regarding the authorization request comprises storing one or more of: the authorization request, the request message, the reply message, and the response.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the authorization request comprises one or more of: an indicator of a request type, an indicator of a requested action, a dollar amount, an account number, an identifier of the requester, and an identifier of an approver.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the approver to whom the request message is sent dependent on information comprised in the authorization request other than an identifier of the approver.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising creating the request message dependent on information comprised in the authorization request, wherein the request message comprises additional information not comprised in the authorization request.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing configuration information associated with the requestor, wherein said sending a request message and said authenticating the reply message are performed in accordance with said configuration information.

### Claim 11

A computing system, comprising:
one or more processors;
memory coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the memory is configured to store program instructions executable by the one or more processors to implement a mobile authorization service application configured to:
receive an authorization request from a requester;
determine at least one user approver authorized to approve the authorization request and the number of approvers required to approve the request, wherein to determine the at least one user approver, consideration is given to the identity of a third party optionally identified in the request on whose behalf the authorization request is made, the location of the requestor, the location of individual potential approvers, and the requestor's job grade;
send a request message to at least the number of required user approvers, the request message including an indicator of priority or urgency, wherein sending a request message to at least the number of required user approvers comprises contacting at least one of the user approvers for both a verbal authorization and an authenticated approval through the network, wherein if the number of approvers required for the given authorization request is more than one, the more than one required approvers operate to approve or deny the request in parallel with the other approvers of the more than one required approvers;
receive a reply message from each of the user approvers that were sent the request message in addition to receiving the verbal reply from the particular one of the user approvers requested to do so, the reply message indicating the particular user approver's answer;
authenticate each reply message based on authorization information and the location of the approver at the time of the approval; and
send a response to the requester indicating each user approver's answer;
send, if one or more of the user approver's answers includes a denial of the request, the request to one or more additional user approvers authorized to approve the request;
wherein at least one of said receiving an authorization request, said sending a response, said sending a request message, and said receiving a reply message comprise communicating via a mobile communication device.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the approver's answer comprises one or more of: an approval, a rejection, a request for more information, and a comment.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the reply message comprises authentication information identifying the approver, and wherein to authenticate the reply message, the authorization service application is further configured to compare the authentication information to information comprised in the memory for authenticating messages from subscribers of an authorization service.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The system of claim 13, wherein the authentication information comprises one or more of: a personal identification number (PIN), a digital signature, an audio file comprising a voice command, a digital representation of a scanned thumbprint or retina, or an image file comprising a scanned thumbprint or retina.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the authorization request comprises one or more of: an indicator of a request type, an indicator of a requested action, a dollar amount, an account number, an identifier of the requester, and an identifier of an approver.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the authorization service application is further configured to determine the approver to whom the request message is sent dependent on information comprised in the authorization request other than an identifier of the approver.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the authorization service application is further configured to store information regarding the authorization request in the memory.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17, wherein to store information regarding the authorization request, the authorization service application is further configured to store one or more of: the authorization request, the request message, the reply message, and the response.

### Claim 19 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the authorization service application is further configured to create the request message dependent on information comprised in the authorization request, wherein the request message comprises additional information not comprised in the authorization request.

### Claim 20 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the authorization service application is further configured to access configuration information associated with the requestor, wherein said sending a request message and said authenticating the reply message are performed in accordance with said configuration information.

### Claim 21

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising program instructions computer-executable to implement a mobile authorization service application configured to:
receive an authorization request from a requester; determine at least one user approver authorized to approve the authorization request and the number of approvers required to approve the request, wherein to determine the at least one user approver, consideration is given to the identity of a third party optionally identified in the request on whose behalf the authorization request is made, the location of the requestor, the location of individual potential approvers, and the requestor's job grade;
send a request message to at least the number of required user approvers, the request message including an indicator of priority or urgency, wherein sending a request message to at least the number of required user approvers comprises contacting at least one of the user approvers for both a verbal authorization and an authenticated approval through the network, wherein if the number of approvers required for the given authorization request is more than one, the more than one required approvers operate to approve or deny the request in parallel with the other approvers of the more than one required approvers;
receive a reply message from each of the user approvers that were sent the request message in addition to receiving the verbal reply from the particular one of the user approvers requested to do so, the reply message indicating the particular user approver's answer;
authenticate each reply message based on authorization information and the location of the approver at the time of the approval; and send a response to the requester indicating each user approver's answer;
sending, if one or more of the user approver's answers includes a denial of the request, the request to one or more additional user approvers authorized to approve the request; wherein at least one of said receiving an authorization request, said sending a response, said sending a request message, and said receiving a reply message comprise communicating via a mobile communication device.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The storage medium of claim 21, wherein the approver's answer comprises one or more of: an approval, a rejection, a request for more information, and a comment.

### Claim 23 (depends on 21)

The storage medium of claim 21, wherein the reply message comprises authentication information identifying the approver, and wherein to authenticate the reply message, the authorization service application is further configured to compare the authentication information to information maintained by the authorization service application for authenticating messages from subscribers of the authorization service.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The storage medium of claim 23, wherein the authentication information comprises one or more of: a personal identification number (PIN), a digital signature, an audio file comprising a voice command, a digital representation of a scanned thumbprint or retina, or an image file comprising a scanned thumbprint or retina.

### Claim 25 (depends on 21)

The storage medium of claim 21, wherein the authorization request comprises one or more of: an indicator of a request type, an indicator of a requested action, a dollar amount, an account number, an identifier of the requester, and an identifier of an approver.

### Claim 26 (depends on 21)

The storage medium of claim 21, wherein the authorization service application is further configured to determine the approver to whom the request message is sent dependent on information comprised in the authorization request other than an identifier of the approver.

### Claim 27 (depends on 21)

The storage medium of claim 21, wherein the authorization service application is further configured to store information regarding the authorization request in the memory.

### Claim 28 (depends on 27)

The storage medium of claim 27, wherein to store information regarding the authorization request, the authorization service application is further configured to store one or more of: the authorization request, the request message, the reply message, and the response.

### Claim 29 (depends on 21)

The storage medium of claim 21, wherein the authorization service application is further configured to create the request message dependent on information comprised in the authorization request, wherein the request message comprises additional information not comprised in the authorization request.

### Claim 30 (depends on 21)

The storage medium of claim 21, wherein the authorization service application is further configured to access configuration information associated with the requestor, wherein said sending a request message and said authenticating the reply message are performed in accordance with said configuration information.