Centralized, automatic extraction of data from remotely transformed and transmitted forms

• US 20070206223A1
• Filed: 05/01/2007
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Interface IP Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: Bruce Johnson, Byron Caldwell, David Gollom, Varda Treibach-Heck
• Inventors: Johnson, Bruce, Treibach-Heck, Varda, Gollom, David, Caldwell, Byron
• Granted Patent: US 7,508,537 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.150
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/22 by selection of a specific region containing or referencing a pattern; Locating or processing of specific regions to guide the detection or recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/416 Extracting the logical structure, e.g. chapters, sections or page numbers; Identifying elements of the document, e.g. authors

Abstract

One or more parameters, such as time, are reported to a center using a form. The center then automatically extracts data from the form and converts it for storage and subsequent processing or review. The form is preferably a tangible form, which the sender completes, and then faxes or emails to the center. Image capture, registration, and feature recognition routines are included to enable the center to extract the reported data with no need for data reentry or human intervention. The invention is particularly suitable for remote employees who need to submit time sheets, expense reports, and the like to an employer, or for automatic analysis of submitted inventory reports, product orders, etc.

Claims

1. A method for collecting reports of at least one parameter comprising the following steps:

automatically, that is, independent of any required human intervention, receiving from any of a plurality of senders, via a transmission channel, a transmittable electronic representation of an image of a sender-specific physical form, said form having been converted directly, at a sender site, from a tangible state into the transmittable electronic representation, the form having a plurality of data fields, each corresponding to an indicator of at least a partial value of at least one of the parameters;

automatically identifying the location of the data fields in the received representation of the image of the sender-specific physical form;

automatically extracting from the identified data fields the at least partial values of the corresponding parameters; and

automatically storing the extracted values in a predetermined format in a memory for subsequent processing.

2. A method as in claim 1, in which the electronic representation of the image of the sender-specific physical form is generated using a conventional facsimile machine, whereby the transmission channel is a standard telephone line.

3. A method as in claim 2, further including the step of transferring the stored extracted values to an external recipient via a network, all processing of the sender-specific physical form after transmission by the sender up to and including transfer to the external recipient via the network thereby taking place automatically.

4. A method as in claim 1, in which each data field indicates a quantifiable or itemizable value of a corresponding one of the parameters, further including the additional step of storing the received electronic representation of the image of the sender-specific physical form in the memory, whereby non-quantifiable and non-itemizable entries by the user onto the sender-specific physical form are made available for subsequent review.

5. A method as in claim 1, further including the step of storing recipient-entered annotations in the memory along with the stored extracted values of the respective received form.

6. A method as in claim 1, further comprising:

associating at least two different physical forms with different senders; and

automatically determining the identity of each sender based on the received image of the physical form.

7. A method as in claim 6, further comprising:

automatically identifying the received forms by performing a best-fit comparison of each received electronic representation of the image of one of the physical forms with the pre-stored electronic representations of the templates.

8. A method as in claim 1, in which the step of automatically identifying the location of the data fields comprises the following sub-steps:

storing an electronic representation of a template of each of a plurality of physical forms;

automatically identifying each received form by performing a best-fit comparison of each received electronic representation of the image of the corresponding physical form with the stored electronic representations of the templates;

automatically registering the received electronic representation of the received physical form image with the best-fit electronic template representation; and

matching the data fields in the received electronic representation of the received physical form image with corresponding data fields in the best-fit electronic template representation.

9. A method as in claim 1, in which:

the electronic representation of the image of the physical form is generated using a conventional facsimile machine;

the transmission channel is a standard telephone line;

at least one of the parameters is time; and

the physical form is a time sheet.

10. A method for collecting reports of at least one parameter comprising the following steps:

all in a central computer system;

automatically receiving from any of a plurality of arbitrary senders, via a publicly accessible transmission channel, a transmittable electronic representation of an image of a sender-specific physical form, the form having a plurality of data fields, each corresponding to an indicator, which may be alphanumeric, of at least a partial value of at least one of the parameters;

automatically and uniquely identifying the sender-specific physical form from the electronic representation of its received image;

automatically identifying the location of the data fields in the received representation of the image of the sender-specific form by comparing the received electronic representation of the image of the sender-specific physical form with at least one pre-stored electronic representation of at least one template;

automatically extracting from the identified data fields the at least partial values of the corresponding parameters; and

automatically storing the extracted values in a predetermined format in a memory for subsequent processing as well as the representation of the received physical form as it was received; and

transferring the stored extracted values to an external recipient via a network, all processing of the physical form after transmission by the sender up to and including transfer to the external recipient via the network thereby taking place automatically;

in which;

the electronic representation of the image of the physical form is generated using a standard, conventional facsimile machine, at a sender site, whereby the transmission channel is a standard telephone line and the central computer system is separate from the facsimile machine other than through its connection via the transmission channel;

each data field indicates a quantifiable or itemizable value of a corresponding one of the parameters, further including the additional step of storing the received electronic representation of the image of the physical form in the memory, whereby non-quantifiable and non-itemizable entries by the user onto the physical form are made available for subsequent review;

the step of automatically identifying the location of the data fields comprises the following sub-steps;

storing an electronic representation of a template of each of a plurality of physical forms;

automatically identifying each electronic representation of the received form.

11. A system for collecting reports of at least one parameter comprising:

a central server that includes;

an I/O sub-system automatically receiving from any of a plurality of arbitrary senders, via a publicly accessible transmission channel, a transmittable electronic representation of an image of any of a plurality of sender-specific physical forms, said form having been converted directly, at a sender site, from a tangible state into the transmittable electronic representation and having at least two different layouts;

said representation being generated by a standard, conventional image-conversion device, the sender-specific form having a plurality of data fields, each corresponding to an indicator, which may be alphanumeric, of at least a partial value of at least one of the parameters;

a form processing arrangement comprising modules of computer-executable code including instructions;

for automatically and uniquely identifying the physical form from the electronic representation of its received image;

for automatically extracting from the identified data fields the at least partial values of the corresponding parameters; and

for automatically storing the extracted values in a predetermined format in a memory for subsequent processing as well as the representation of the received physical form as it was received.

12. A system as in claim 11, further comprising:

a facsimile machine for converting the physical form from the tangible state into the electronic representation and for sending the electronic representation of the image of the physical form to the central server,

in which;

the form is generated using a conventional facsimile machine; and

the transmission channel is a standard telephone line.

13. A system as in claim 11, in which the form processing software modules include an annotation module for receiving and storing recipient-entered annotations in the memory along with the stored extracted values of the respective received form.