Business Transaction Documentation System and Method

• US 20070245227A1
• Filed: 04/12/2007
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Workflow.com LLC
• Original Assignee: Workflow.com LLC
• Inventors: Guba, Alexander L., Hyland, Packy
• Application Number:
  US11/734,753
• Publication Number:
  US 20070245227A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A transaction documentation method includes loading a form including one or more hotspots from an indexed database of an electronic system that includes one or more scanned paper forms or imported externally-residing existing electronic forms or combinations thereof. The loaded form is displayed on a portable processor-based device. A transaction-specific form is generated by editing the loaded form during a business transaction including capturing information at a hotspot. The transaction-specific form is saved as an image, and also the information captured at the hotspot is discretely stored to a database.

Claims

1. A method of generating a library of forms for documenting business transactions, comprising:

a. scanning an existing paper form or importing an externally-residing existing electronic form as a new form in an electronic system;

b. customizing the new form including adding one or more editable hotspots to the new form;

c. storing and indexing the new form within the system such that it is accessible to authorized users of the system, and

d. wherein the new form is uploadable as a transaction-specific form to be displayed on a portable processor-based device, and edited at any hotspot or elsewhere on the form or both, and then stored into the system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically filling pre-stored transaction-specific information into the transaction-specific form.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transaction-specific information comprises a customer'"'"'s name, date of birth, or gender, or the current date, or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction-specific information is automatically filled when a customer is selected from a customer list residing on the system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating data from the transaction-specific form to another processor-based device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising inserting information into the transaction-specific form by choosing among options from a preconfigured list of favorites provided at one of the hotspots.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding text into the transaction-specific form at a text hotspot.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the text added is saved into a database.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising inserting a predetermined marking by executing a tick hotspot.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the executing comprises maneuvering a cursor to the tick hotspot and clicking or tapping with a stylus at the tick hotspot on a display of the portable processor-based device.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising adding information corresponding to the tick hotspot into the transaction-specific form as a result of executing the tick hotspot.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the tick hotspot information added is saved into a database.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding text into the transaction specific form at an arbitrary location on the transaction-specific form.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising extracting one or more selected items from the transaction-specific form for insertion into another document.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the downloadable form is editable by adding handwriting to the transaction-specific form.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising capturing information with at least one hotspot.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

e. extracting said information inserted at said at least one hotspot;

f. storing said extracted information at a database; and

g. creating a formatted note based on said extracted information.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a new hotspot within the transaction-specific form during a business transaction.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the customizing includes configuring at least one hotspot for adding to the new form.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the customizing includes adding a preconfigured hotspot to the new form.

42. A portable processor-based device, comprising a processor and a display, and a stylus, mouse or keypad, or combinations thereof, for editing a form uploaded from a generated a library of forms for documenting a business transaction, the device further comprising one or more digital storage media having instructions embedded therein for programming the processor to perform a method according to any of claims 1-41

43. One or more digital storage media having instructions embedded therein for programming one or more processors to perform a method according to any of claims 1-41.

21. A method of documenting a business transaction, comprising:

a. loading a form including one or more hotspots from an electronic system that comprises one or more scanned paper forms or imported externally-residing existing electronic forms or combinations thereof;

b. displaying the loaded form on a portable processor-based device;

c. generating a transaction-specific form by editing the loaded form during a business transaction including capturing information with at least one hotspot; and

d. storing the transaction-specific form as an image, and also discretely storing the information captured with the at least one hotspot.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising automatically filling pre-stored transaction-specific information into the transaction-specific form.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the transaction-specific information comprises a customer'"'"'s name, date of birth, or gender, or the date, or combinations thereof.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising communicating data from the transaction-specific form to another processor-based device.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

e. extracting said information inserted at said at least one hotspot;

f. storing said extracted information at a database; and

g. creating a formatted note based on said extracted information.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising capturing information into the transaction-specific form by choosing among options from a preconfigured list of favorites provided at one of the hotspots.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising adding text into the transaction-specific form at a text hotspot.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the text added is saved into a database.

29. The method of claim 21, further comprising inserting a predetermined marking by executing a tick hotspot.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the executing comprises maneuvering a cursor to the tick hotspot and clicking or tapping with a stylus at the tick hotspot on a display of the portable processor-based device.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising adding information corresponding to the tick hotspot into the transaction-specific form as a result of executing the tick hotspot.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the tick hotspot information added is saved into a database.

33. The method of claim 21, further comprising adding text into the transaction specific form at an arbitrary location on the transaction-specific form.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the arbitrary location is not within a hotspot and not discretely saved to a database.

35. The method of claim 21, further comprising extracting one or more selected items from the transaction-specific form for insertion into another document.

36. The method of claim 21, wherein the editing comprises adding handwriting to the transaction-specific form.

37. The method of claim 21, further comprising editing said form at a link icon hotspot, image hotspot or audio hotspot, or combinations thereof.

38. The method of claim 21, further comprising adding a signature stamp to the transaction-specific form.

39. The method of claim 21, further comprising executing a link hotspot for retrieving another document or network location.

40. The method of claim 21, further comprising inserting a template as one or more additional pages into the transaction-specific form.

41. The method of claim 21, further comprising selecting a save option that also prints the form, uploads a new copy of the same form, reloads the form for continued editing, attached the forms to an email, or sets a status of the form, or combinations thereof.