AUTOMATED SUPPORT SCHEME FOR ELECTRONIC FORMS

• US 20080215976A1
• Filed: 11/26/2007
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle OTC Subsidiary LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Inquira Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Bierner, Gann Alexander, Matinale, Stacey Anne, Sivak, Bryan Dale, Neel, Roger Clifton, Mengel, Christopher Adam, Handel, Sean Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,095,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

Actions associated with entering information into different fields of an electronic form are monitored. The types of support provided for entering the information into the different fields can be dynamically varied according to monitored user actions or according to the context or categories of users, fields, or forms. Different types of query or search engines can be used to further identify the context, intent, or meaning of information entered into the different fields. The identified context, intents, or meanings are then used to provide further on-line support. Other analytics of both field entries and user actions can also be used to provide addition help when entering information into the on-line forms.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

displaying one or more web pages having different fields;

monitoring actions associated with entering information into the different fields; and

dynamically varying what types of support are provided for entering the information into the different fields according to the monitored actions.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

identifying what fields are currently being viewed or filled out; and

dynamically displaying different questions and/or answers associated with the identified fields.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a context for the web pages or for the fields in the web page that are currently being filled out;

receiving a question regarding one of the fields;

identifying an intent of the question according to the identified context; and

conducting a search according to the identified intent.

4. The method according to claim 3 further comprising displaying new questions on the web pages associated with search results.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

tracking the information entered into the different fields;

identifying invalid entries; and

displaying different on-line support for the identified invalid entries.

6. The method according to claim 5 further comprising:

identifying invalid entries that indicate a user does not understand associated fields or that indicate user frustration filling out associated fields; and

displaying additional on-line support for the identified invalid entries.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

tracking the information entered into the fields;

identifying a number of times information is entered and then deleted from the same fields; and

displaying help options according to the number of times information is entered and then deleted from the fields.

8. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

identifying different time thresholds associated with filling out the different fields in the web pages;

tracking amounts of time spent filling out the different fields; and

displaying different help options when the tracked amounts of time spent filling out the different fields extend past their associated time thresholds.

9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

identifying different priorities associated with different types of transactions on one or more of the web pages;

providing different levels of on-line support for filling out the web pages according to the associated priorities.

10. The method according to claim 9 further comprising:

detecting problems or delays in filling out the different fields of the web pages for the different transactions; and

providing on-line support more quickly for detected problems or delays in higher priority transactions than for detected problems or delays in lower priority transactions.

11. The method according to claim 10 further comprising:

automatically calling users after detecting problems or delays in the higher priority transactions and only displaying help phone numbers after detecting problems or delays in the lower priority transactions.

12. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

identifying demographic information for users accessing the web pages;

assigning user classifications according to the identified demographic information; and

providing on-line support according to the user classifications.

13. The method according to claim 12 further comprising:

assigning a first user income range to a first user support category;

assigning a second user income range to a second user support category;

providing a first higher level of on-line support for the users assigned to the first user support category; and

providing a second lower level of on-line support for the users assigned to the second user support category.

14. A storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, result in:

receiving entries in fields of a web page form;

identifying different types of entries for the fields; and

displaying different suggestions for filling in the fields according to the identified types of entries.

15. The storage medium according to claim 14 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

identifying fields that have invalid entries;

displaying pop-up windows for the identified fields, the pop-up windows providing suggestions for filling in the identified fields.

16. The storage medium according to claim 15 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in displaying questions in the pop-up windows that help identify correct entries for the identified fields.

17. The storage medium according to claim 14 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

identifying meanings for the received entries by querying a database that is associated with a context or intent of the forms, fields, or entries;

displaying different information that corresponds with the identified meanings of the entries; and

filling in the fields with selected portions of the displayed information.

18. The storage medium according to claim 14 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

storing prior search or website activity for a user accessing the web page form;

identifying meanings of the received entries according to the prior user activity; and

displaying different suggestions for filling out the fields in the web page form according to the identified meanings for the received entries.

19. The storage medium according to claim 14 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

receiving a first set of one or more entries in a first set of one or more fields in the web page form;

determining a user demographic according to the first set of entries;

predicting a second set of one or more likely entries for a second set of one or more fields of the web page form according to the user demographic determined from the first set of entries; and

displaying the second set of likely entries for selection and insertion into the second set of fields.

20. The storage medium according to claim 14 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

analyzing previously submitted entries in similar previously submitted web page forms;

receiving a first set of entries for a first set of fields in a currently open web page form;

predicting what second set of entries are likely to be filled in a second set of fields in the currently open web page form according to the first set of received entries and the previously submitted entries in the previously submitted web page forms; and

displaying the predicted second set of entries as suggestions for filling in the second set of fields in the currently open web page form.

21. The storage medium according to claim 20 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

identifying which of the displayed suggestions are least frequently selected; and

removing or altering the identified least frequently selected suggestions.

22. The storage medium according to claim 14 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

identifying which fields most commonly cause abandonment of the web page form; and

altering or increasing on-line support for the identified fields.

23. The storage medium according to claim 14 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

saving information from the fields in a previously opened web page form in a prior on-line web-session;

detecting a same user opening up the same web page form; and

filling in the fields in the opened web page form with the information saved from the web page form from the prior on-line web-session.

24. The storage medium according to claim 14 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

tracking what fields in the web-page form have been completed; and

displaying a completion indicator that shows what amount of the web-page form is completed.

25. The storage medium according to claim 24 further comprising instructions that, when executed, result in:

weighting the difficulty of filling out different fields in the web-page form; and

showing what amounts of the form have been completed according to the weighting associated with the different fields.