Dynamic pagination of tax return questions during preparation of electronic tax return

• US 10,157,426 B1
• Filed: 11/28/2014
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Wang, Gang, McCluskey, Kevin M., Yu, Jay J., Balazs, Alex G.
• Primary Examiner(s): BORLINGHAUS, JASON M
• Application Number:
  US14/555,939
• Time in Patent Office: 1,481 Days
• Field of Search: 705 31, 705 35, 705 36 T, 705 19
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

Computer-implemented methods, systems and articles of manufacture for rendering paginated interview screens that include arrangements of tax questions or topics representative of question or topic relevancy and that are selected and arranged based at least in part upon determined question or topic categorization and/or ranking. Different pagination structures may be utilized to visually indicate tax question or topic relevancy and to encourage or enable users of a tax return preparation application to answer more pertinent questions or topics before others, while also allowing the user to navigate or scroll questions or topics of paginated screens and to select questions or topics to answer or address at the user'"'"'s discretion, without being restricted by a pre-determined sequence of interview questions or hard-coded question-and-answer frameworks. Interview screen paginations and content thereof are dynamically updated as runtime data of the electronic tax return is received or updated.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a computing device comprising a data store including computer-executable instructions of a computerized tax return preparation application and a processor executing the computer-executable instructions of the computerized tax return preparation application, the computer-implemented method comprising:

the computing device, by executing a rule-based logic agent, reading first runtime data of an electronic tax return from a shared data store, selecting candidate topics or questions from a data structure comprising a plurality of rows defining respective rules and a plurality of columns defining respective questions, generating a plurality of non-binding suggestions of candidate topics or questions to be presented to the user based at least in part upon the first runtime data and the data structure, and generating prioritization data associated with the plurality of non-binding suggestions;

the computing device, by executing a user interface controller in communication with the rule-based logic agent, receiving the plurality of non-binding suggestions from the rule-based logic agent;

the computing device, by executing a pagination engine associated with the user interface controller, receiving prioritization data generated by the rule-based logic agent and associated with the plurality of non-binding suggestions, and generating an output based at least in part upon the prioritization data;

the computing device, by executing the user interface controller, generating an interview screen that is presented to the user through a display of the computing device, the interview screen comprising a first paginated screen including topics or questions of at least one selected non-binding suggestion generated by the rule-based logic agent and structured based at least in part upon the pagination engine outputs;

the computing device, by executing the user interface controller, receiving user input through the first paginated screen, the user input corresponding to selection of a topic or question of the first paginated screen, and writing the response to the shared data store shared with the rule-based logic agent to update the first runtime data and generate second runtime data; and

the computing device, by executing a calculation engine, reading the second runtime data from the shared data store, determining a calculation result based on performing a calculation using the second runtime data, and writing the calculation result to the shared data store to update the second runtime data and generate third runtime data.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computing device, by executing the rule-based logic agent, reading the third runtime data of the electronic tax return from the shared data store, selecting candidate topics or questions based at least in part upon the second runtime data, and generating a second plurality of non-binding suggestions of candidate topics or questions to be presented to the user; and

the computing device, by executing the user interface controller, receiving the second plurality of non-binding suggestions generated by the rule-based logic agent;

the computing device, by executing a pagination engine, receiving second prioritization data generated by the rule-based logic agent and associated with the second plurality of non-binding suggestions, and generating a second output based at least in part upon the second prioritization data;

the computing device, by executing the user interface controller generating a second interview screen that is presented to the user through the display of the computing device, the second interview screen comprising a second paginated screen including topics or questions of at least one non-binding suggestion of the second plurality of non-binding suggestions and structured based at least in part upon the second pagination engine output, receiving second user input through the second paginated screen, the second user input corresponding to selection of a second topic or question of the second paginated screen and providing a second response to the second selected topic or question, and writing the second response to the shared data store to update the third runtime data and generate fourth runtime data.

3. The method of claim 2, the first paginated screen and the second paginated screen each comprising the same pagination structure with different question and topic content.

4. The method of claim 2, the first paginated screen and the second paginated screen each comprising a sorted list, respective sorted lists including different question or topic content.

5. The method of claim 2, the first paginated screen and the second paginated screen each comprising a plurality of frames or segments, respective frames or segments comprising different questions or topic content.

6. The method of claim 1, the pagination structure being utilized by the user interface controller in response to user input selecting an element of the pagination screen.

7. The method of claim 2, the first paginated screen and the second paginated screen comprising different pagination structures.

8. The method of claim 7, the first paginated screen comprising a sorted list of questions or topics, and the second paginated screen comprising a plurality of frames or segments comprising respective questions or topics.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computer, by executing the user interface controller:

receiving user input to toggle between the currently displayed first paginated screen having a first pagination structure and second paginated screen including the same topics or questions in a different, second pagination structure;

generating the second paginated screen including the same topics or question in the different, second pagination structure; and

presenting the second paginated screen to the user through the display, wherein the user responds to or provides data for a selected question or topic when viewing either of the first or second paginated screens.

10. The method of claim 1, the prioritization data comprising non-binding suggestion ranking data.

11. The method of claim 10, ranking of non-binding suggestions being based at least in part upon respective categories of respective candidate questions of respective non-binding suggestions.

12. The method of claim 11, a non-binding suggestion comprising a candidate question or topic that is required to be answered or addressed is ranked higher than other non-binding suggestions that do not include a candidate question that is required or answered to be addressed.

13. The method of claim 1, a non-binding suggestion comprising a candidate question or topic that was identified by the rule-based logic agent based upon an inference about the user by the rule-based logic agent in view of the current runtime data and data from a source external of the electronic tax return is ranked higher than other non-binding suggestions that do not include a candidate question identified based at least in part upon an inference about the user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein non-binding suggestions are ranked based at least in part upon a number of inferences or assumptions that were determined by the rule-based logic agent in order to identify a candidate question that is in a non-binding suggestion.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein non-binding suggestions are ranked based at least in part a number of rules of the data structure that remain active when candidate questions involving the data structure are answered.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein non-binding suggestions are ranked based at least in part a number of questions of a rule of the decision table that would remain unanswered when candidate questions involving the rule are answered.

17. The method of claim 1, the prioritization data comprising ranking data of individual candidate questions.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein ranking of individual candidate questions is based at least in part upon an estimated probability of how a question will be answered.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein ranking of individual candidate questions is based at least in part upon how a possible answer to the individual candidate question would eliminate other questions of the data structure utilized by the rule-based logic agent from consideration.

20. The method of claim 1, the prioritization data comprising a category of a candidate question of a non-binding suggestion.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the candidate question is categorized as one of multiple categories comprising:

a first category of a question or topic is required to be answered or addressed in order for the electronic tax return to be completed or to satisfy a tax authority requirement; and

a second category of a question or topic is inferred to be required to be answered or addressed based at least in part upon current runtime data and statistical data.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the candidate question is categorized as one of multiple categories comprising:

a first category of a question or topic is required to be answered or addressed in order for the electronic tax return to be completed; and

a second category of a question or topic is inferred to be required to be answered or addressed based at least in part upon current runtime data and a result generated by the rule-based logic agent executing a predictive model.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising the rule-based logic agent categorizing candidate questions.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the categories are based at least in part upon the rule-based logic agent determining respective probabilities based at least in part upon statistical data of other taxpayers.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the categories are based at least in part upon the rule-based logic agent executing predictive models involving the current runtime data read by the rule-based logic agent.

26. The method of claim 1, the prioritization data comprising multiple variables representative of relative relevance of a question or topic based at least in part upon the fourth runtime data read by the rule-based logic agent.

27. The method of claim 26, the prioritization data comprising:

ranking data, wherein each question or topic is assigned a ranking or score; and

categorization data, wherein each question or topic is assigned a category from a plurality of categories.

28. The method of claim 27, the first paginated screen being structured based at least in part upon ranking data taking priority over categorization data.

29. The method of claim 27, the first paginated screen being structured based at least in part upon categorization data taking priority over ranking data.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the first paginated screen is structured such that groups of questions of a pre-determined category are sorted according to respective rankings.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the ranking data and the categorization data are not presented to the user through the interview screen.

32. The method of claim 27, the first paginated screen comprising a sorted list of questions or topics of a determined sequence based at least in part upon ranking and categorization data, a first section of the sorted list comprising ranked questions or topics of a first category, and a second section of the sorted list comprising ranked questions or topics of a second category.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein a question or topic can be is selected from the sorted list and answered by the user independently of a presented sequence of questions or topics of the first paginated screen.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the first paginated screen is structured for scrolling through questions or topics of the sorted list and selecting any presented question or topic of any ranking or category to answer or address.

35. The method of claim 32, the user selecting and answering a question of the sorted list, the method further comprising the pagination engine

receiving second prioritization data and generating a second output based at least in part upon the second prioritization data,

the user interface controller generating or selecting a second interview screen, the second interview screen being presented to the user through the display of the computing device and comprising a second sorted list of questions or topics displayed to the user and arranged in a second sequence different than the first sequence based at least in part upon the second output of the pagination engine.

36. The method of claim 32, the user interface controller automatically modifying the sorted list based at least in part upon new or updated runtime data by at least one of deleting a question or topic from the sorted list, adding a question or topic to the sorted list, or changing the sequence of questions or topics of the sorted list, or changing a position of a question or topic within the sorted list.

37. The method of claim 27, the first paginated screen comprising a plurality of frames, a first frame comprising ranked questions or topics of a first category, and a second section of the sorted list comprising ranked questions or topics of a second category.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the first paginated screen is structured for user navigation to any frame, scrolling through respective questions or topics within respective frames and selecting any presented question or topic of any frame to answer or address.

39. The method of claim 38, the first paginated screen comprising a plurality of frames being automatically modified by the user interface controller based at least in part upon new or updated runtime data by at least one of deleting a question or topic from a frame, adding a question or topic to a frame, adding a frame and a question or topic to the added frame, deleting a frame and a question or topic within the deleted frame, moving a question from a first frame to a second frame.

40. The method of claim 37, a first frame comprising questions or topics required to be answered before filing of the electronic tax return, and a second frame comprising questions or topics that may be required to be answered based at least in part upon the first runtime data.

41. The method of claim 1, further comprising the user interface controller:

receiving data of a search request submitted by the user through the first paginated screen generated by the user interface controller;

identifying questions or topics of the first paginated screen that are relevant to the search request, the identified questions or topics being a subset of the questions or topics of the first paginated screen; and

modifying the first paginated screen to generate a second paginated screen comprising the identified questions or topics; and

displaying the second paginated screen to the user.

42. The method of claim 41, the user interface controller receiving data of the search request resulting from the user selecting a tab of the first paginated screen corresponding to a category, wherein the second paginated screen includes only questions or topics of the category of the selected tab.