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System and method for indicating sections of electronic tax forms for which narrative explanations can be presented

  • US 10,607,298 B1
  • Filed: 07/30/2015
  • Issued: 03/31/2020
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2015
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

  • reading, by a calculation engine of a computerized tax return preparation application operable in multiple presentation modes comprising computer-executable instructions executed by a computing device, from a shared data store of the computerized tax return preparation application, runtime data of an electronic tax return being prepared by a user of the computerized tax return preparation application;

    populating, by the calculation engine, a directed graph structure of the computerized tax return preparation, the directed graph structure semantically describing data dependent tax operations and comprising leaf nodes populated with specific runtime data, function nodes associated with input nodes, functions, and result nodes,wherein pre-determined explanations are associated with the function nodes and functions, inputs to a function comprise runtime data of associated leaf nodes, and a result node is populated with a calculation result generated by execution of the function;

    constructing, by an explanation engine of the computerized tax return preparation application and in communication with the calculation engine, a narrative explanation concerning the calculation result based at least in part upon the explanation engine;

    traversing at least a portion of the directed graph structure and determining an explanation associated with the traversed function nodes and functions, determining the explanation including recursively traversing at least a portion of the graph structure in response to receiving selected field data from a user interface controller process,recursively traversing at least a portion of the graph structure to determine multiple explanation segments,executing a natural language processing algorithm on the narrative explanation segments, andgenerating, by the natural language processing algorithm, the narrative explanation for presentation to the user;

    performing the user interface controller process including presenting, to the user, an electronic version of a tax form of a tax authority that has been modified by inclusion of interface elements associated with fields of the electronic version of the tax form, and receiving, through the interview screen, user input regarding selection of an interface element to invoke presentation of at least one of the explanations associated with traversed function nodes and functions related to a tax calculation or operation for the respective field;

    communicating, by the explanation engine, the narrative explanation to a user interface controller of the computerized tax return application that is also in communication with the shared data store;

    presenting, by the user interface controller and through a display of the computing device and to the user, a computer generated interface comprising the calculation result and the narrative explanation associated with the calculation result;

    receiving, by the user interface controller, further user input requesting to drill down into a more detailed narrative explanation than the narrative explanation provided after the presenting; and

    in response to the further user input, presenting at least one additional narrative explanation, the presenting of the at least one additional narrative explanation including;

    communicating the request to drill down to the explanation engine,recursively traversing, by the explanation engine, the graph structure to determine the at least one additional narrative explanation, andcommunicating the at least one additional narrative explanation to the user interface controller for presentation to the user.

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