METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR COLLECTING RESPONSES

• US 20080264701A1
• Filed: 04/23/2008
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Scantron Corporation (MX Holdings One LLC)
• Original Assignee: Scantron Corporation (MX Holdings One LLC)
• Inventors: Watson, Hugh Eugene, Radtke, Todd N., Moulton, Philip R., Neilsen, Robbie A., Emmerich, Craig
• Granted Patent: US 8,358,964 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 178/19.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus

Abstract

Implementations feature scannable form techniques and systems. Some aspects feature an apparatus that includes a pen-camera device, an electronic clipboard to store the pen-camera device, and a docking station for the clipboard. The clipboard includes a retention clip to hold a form on a substantially planar surface, and a pen-camera storage compartment to store the pen-camera device. The clipboard includes a power supply interface for charging the pen-camera device, a communication interface to transmit image and location data from the pen-camera device, and electrical interfaces for the clipboard docking station. The pen-camera device can mark response data on the form, optically scan response data and location data on the form, and associate time-stamped information for the marked responses on the form for error checking and fraud detection. The scannable form can include an area for encoded information that identifies a location and arrangement of a position-coding pattern on the form.

Claims

1. A system collection of responses from users of scannable forms, comprising:

a scannable form comprising;

(i) a position-coding pattern comprising a plurality of unique patterns,

(ii) at least two response areas for receipt of information from a user of the form, and

(iii) two or more location marks indicating a referenceable physical location on the scannable form, wherein the response areas are positioned in a specified relation to the location marks; and

a pen-camera device for optically detecting the position-coding pattern and marking the scannable form with response marks in at least one of the response areas, wherein the pen-camera device is configured to have a location of the pen-camera device on the scannable form identified with the position-coding pattern; and

a form definition file for defining,

(i) a form first layout for referencing content and position information for the at least two response areas, and

(ii) a second form layout for the position-coding pattern for identifying locations of the pen-camera device on the scannable form when marking the scannable form.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an optical scanner for optically detecting the location marks and the response marks.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the position-coding pattern is invisible to a human eye.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the location marks comprise timing marks that are located along one edge of the scannable form, wherein at least one of the timing marks is horizontally aligned with at least one response field.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the location marks are superimposed on the position-coding pattern.

6. A method for collecting data from a form, the method comprising:

marking a scannable form with a pen-camera device, the scannable form comprising;

(i) a position-coding pattern comprising a plurality of unique patterns, and

(ii) at least two response areas for receipt of information from a user of the form;

receiving scanned response data from the scannable form;

reading location information from the pen-camera device, the pen-camera device optically detecting the location information using the position-coding pattern when marking the scannable form with response marks; and

when reading the location information, referencing a form definition file that defines

(i) a first form layout for indicating content and position information for the at least two response areas, and

(ii) a second form layout for the position-coding pattern for identifying locations of the pen-camera device on the scannable form when marking the scannable form.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising using the location information to track a path of the pen-camera device on the scannable form.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing the location information from the pen-camera device and the received scanned response data from the scannable form.

9. A device for scanning data comprising:

a pen-camera device;

an electronic clipboard configured to store the pen-camera device, the electronic clipboard comprising;

a substantially planar surface for positioning a form;

a retention clip to hold the form on the substantially planar surface;

a pen-camera storage compartment to store the pen-camera device;

a power supply interface for charging the pen-camera device;

a communication interface to transmit image and location data from the pen-camera device.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the pen-camera device is configured to mark on a scannable form and read response marks and position-coding patterns from the scannable form.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the electronic clipboard further comprises:

a battery compartment to store a battery;

a first light-emitting diode (LED) indicator to show a battery status; and

a second LED indicator to show a data downloading status.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the interfaces are configured to couple to an electronic clipboard docking station for power and data communication.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the electronic clipboard is configured to wirelessly transmit the image and location data to an electronic clipboard docking station.

14. A clipboard docking station for a pen-camera clipboard, the clipboard docking station comprises:

a first power supply interface to couple to a first clipboard power supply interface; and

a first communication interface to couple to a first clipboard communication interface to receive image and location data from the pen-camera clipboard,

wherein,

the image data comprises data scanned from a pen-camera device that is transmitted to the pen-camera clipboard, and

the location data comprises data received from the pen-camera device that indicates a location of pen-camera device markings on a scannable form.

15. The clipboard docking station of claim 14, further comprising:

a second power supply interface to couple to a second clipboard power supply interface; and

a second communication interface to couple to a second clipboard communication interfaced to receive image and location data from another pen-camera clipboard.

16. A scannable form for collecting responses from a scannable form, the scannable form comprising:

a position-coding pattern located on the scannable form, wherein the position-coding pattern is optically detectable by a pen-camera device;

at least two location marks indicating a referenceable physical location on the scannable form, wherein the location marks are detectable by an optical scanner device;

at least two response areas for receipt of information from a user of the scannable form, wherein the response areas are positioned in a specified relation to the location marks; and

an area for encoded information that identifies a location and arrangement of the position-coding pattern on the scannable form.

17. The scannable form of claim 16, wherein the location marks comprise timing marks that are located along one edge of the scannable form, wherein at least one of the timing marks is horizontally aligned with at least one response field.

18. The scannable form of claim 16, wherein the area for the encoded information further identifies a type of scannable form.

19. The scannable form of claim 16, wherein the encoded information comprises binary encoded information.

20. The scannable form of claim 16, wherein the position-coding pattern is invisible to a human eye, and wherein the location marks are superimposed on the position-coding pattern.

21. A method for collecting responses from a scannable form, the method comprising:

reading a position-coding pattern located on the scannable form with a pen-camera device;

reading at least two location marks indicating a referenceable physical location on the scannable form with an optical scanner device;

reading at least two response areas for receipt of information from a user of the scannable form, wherein the response areas are positioned in a specified relation to the location marks; and

reading encoded information from a region of the scannable form that identifies a location and arrangement of the position-coding pattern on the scannable form.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the location marks comprise timing marks that are located along one edge of the scannable form, wherein at least one of the timing marks is horizontally aligned with at least one response field.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising using the encoded information to identify a type of scannable form.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the encoded information comprises binary encoded information.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising using the encoded information to provide computer instructions for data collection from the at least two response areas.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the position-coding pattern is invisible to a human eye, and wherein the location marks are superimposed on the position-coding pattern.

27. A computer-implemented method for correcting data on an image of a scannable form displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI), the computer-implemented method comprising:

in a reference image of the scannable form comprising at least two location marks indicating a referenceable physical location on the scannable form and at least two response areas for receipt of handwritten response data from a user of the scannable form, checking the reference image of the scannable form to determine an error regarding an entry for the handwritten response data; and

correcting the error by receiving instructions from a first slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the handwritten response data between the reference image of the scannable form and a prior image of the scannable form;

or

correcting the error by receiving instructions from a second slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the handwritten response data between the reference image of the scannable form and a subsequent image of the scannable form.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein the error comprises an error in a response area of one of the images of the scannable form where there is overwritten data, incomplete data, or an error related to response data located in an incorrect location on the scannable form.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, wherein correcting the error further comprises moving at least some of the overwritten data from a response area on one of the images of the form to a similar response area on another image of the form.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, wherein the correcting the error further comprises moving at least some of the incomplete data from a response area on one of the images of the scannable form to a similar response area on one of the other images of the scannable form.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, wherein correcting the error further comprises receiving instructions from the first slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the response data from the reference image of the scannable form to the prior image of the scannable form, or to move the response data from the prior image of the scannable form to the reference image of the scannable form.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, wherein correcting the error further comprises receiving instructions from the second slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the response data from the reference image of the scannable form to the subsequent image of the scannable form, or to move the response data from the subsequent image of the scannable form to the reference image of the scannable form.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, further comprising concurrently displaying at least two of the images on the GUI.

34. A system for correcting data on an image of a scannable form, the system comprising:

a graphical user interface (GUI) to concurrently display at least two images of the scannable form, wherein the at least two images are images of the scannable form at different times, and wherein one of the images comprises a reference image of the scannable form on the GUI that comprises at least two location marks indicating a referenceable physical location on the scannable form and at least two response areas for receipt of handwritten response data from a user of the scannable form;

a first slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the handwritten response data between the reference image of the scannable form and a prior image of the scannable form; and

a second slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the handwritten response data between the reference image of the scannable form and a subsequent image of the scannable form.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the system is configured for the first or second slider controls to correct an error on at least one of the forms regarding an entry for the handwritten response data, wherein the error comprises an error in a response area of one of the images of the scannable form where there is overwritten data, incomplete data, or an error related to response data located in an incorrect location on the scannable form.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the system is configured to correct the error by moving at least some of the incomplete data or overwritten data from the response area on one of the images of the scannable form to a similar response area on one of the other images of the scannable form.

37. A computer-implemented fraud-detection method for scannable forms, the method comprising:

for a scannable form that comprises at least two response areas for receipt of response data from a user of the scannable form, and a position-coding pattern comprising a plurality of unique patterns, marking the scannable form with response marks using a pen-camera device;

tracking locations of the markings on the scannable form by using the pen-camera device to optically read the position-coding pattern when the pen-camera device marks the scannable form;

associating time-stamping information with the response marks;

collecting the response marks and the associated time-stamped information from the pen-camera device; and

processing the time-stamped information to detect for fraudulent data on the scannable form by using the time-stamping information in at least one rule to trigger an alert when a condition of the rule is not satisfied.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the scannable form further comprises at least two location marks indicating a referenceable physical location on the scannable form.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the location marks comprise timing marks that are located along one edge of the scannable form, wherein at least one of the timing marks is horizontally aligned with at least one response field.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the at least one rule comprises setting a minimum or maximum time duration for markings that occur in a time period between any of a start of a document and an end of the document, the start of the document and an end of another document, the end of the document and a start of the other document, a start of a page of the document and an end of the page of the document, the start of the page of the document and an end of another page of the document, the end of the page of the document and a start the other page of the document, a start of a field of the page of the document and an end of the field of the page of the document, the start of the field of the page of the document and an end of another field of the page of the document, or the end of the field of the page of the document and a start of the other field of the page of the document.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the condition of the at least one rule is not satisfied if any markings occur outside of the time period.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising if the condition is not satisfied, rejecting any markings that occur outside of the time period.

43. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations for collecting data from a form, the operations comprising:

marking a scannable form with a pen-camera device, the scannable form comprising;

(i) a position-coding pattern comprising a plurality of unique patterns, and

(ii) at least two response areas for receipt of information from a user of the form;

receiving scanned response data from the scannable form;

reading location information from the pen-camera device, the pen-camera device optically detecting the location information using the position-coding pattern when marking the scannable form with response marks; and

when reading the location information, referencing a form definition file that defines

(i) a first form layout for indicating content and position information for the at least two response areas, and

(ii) a second form layout for the position-coding pattern for identifying locations of the pen-camera device on the scannable form when marking the scannable form.

44. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations for collecting responses from a scannable form, the operations comprising:

reading a position-coding pattern located on the scannable form with a pen-camera device;

reading at least two location marks indicating a referenceable physical location on the scannable form with an optical scanner device;

reading at least two response areas for receipt of information from a user of the scannable form, wherein the response areas are positioned in a specified relation to the location marks; and

reading encoded information from a region of the scannable form that identifies a location and arrangement of the position-coding pattern on the scannable form.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, further comprising instructions for using the encoded information to identify a type of scannable form.

46. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the region of the scannable form is between the at least two response areas.

47. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations for correcting data on an image of a scannable form displayed on a graphical user interface (GUI), the operations comprising:

in a reference image of the scannable form comprising at least two location marks indicating a referenceable physical location on the scannable form and at least two response areas for receipt of handwritten response data from a user of the scannable form, checking the reference image of the scannable form to determine an error regarding an entry for the handwritten response data; and

correcting the error by receiving instructions from a first slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the handwritten response data between the reference image of the scannable form and a prior image of the scannable form;

or

correcting the error by receiving instructions from a second slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the handwritten response data between the reference image of the scannable form and a subsequent image of the scannable form.

48. The computer program product of claim 47, wherein the error comprises an error in a response area of one of the images of the scannable form where there is overwritten data, incomplete data, or an error related to response data located in an incorrect location on the scannable form.

49. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein correcting the error further comprises instructions for moving at least some of the overwritten data from a response area on one of the images of the form to a similar response area on another image of the form.

50. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein the correcting the error further comprises instructions for moving at least some of the incomplete data from a response area on one of the images of the scannable form to a similar response area on one of the other images of the scannable form.

51. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein correcting the error further comprises receiving instructions from the first slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the response data from the reference image of the scannable form to the prior image of the scannable form, or to move the response data from the prior image of the scannable form to the reference image of the scannable form.

52. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein correcting the error further comprises receiving instructions from the second slider control on the GUI to move at least some of the response data from the reference image of the scannable form to the subsequent image of the scannable form, or to move the response data from the subsequent image of the scannable form to the reference image of the scannable form.

53. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein further comprising instructions for concurrently displaying at least two of the images on the GUI.

54. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations for fraud detection for scannable forms, the operations comprising:

for a scannable form that comprises at least two response areas for receipt of response data from a user of the scannable form, and a position-coding pattern comprising a plurality of unique patterns, marking the scannable form with response marks using a pen-camera device;

tracking locations of the markings on the scannable form by using the pen-camera device to optically read the position-coding pattern when the pen-camera device marks the scannable form;

associating time-stamping information with the response marks;

collecting the response marks and the associated time-stamped information from the pen-camera device; and

processing the time-stamped information to detect for fraudulent data on the scannable form by using the time-stamping information in at least one rule to trigger an alert when a condition of the rule is not satisfied.

55. The computer program product of claim 54, wherein the at least one rule comprises setting a minimum or maximum time duration for markings that occur in a time period between any of a start of a document and an end of the document, the start of the document and an end of another document, the end of the document and a start of the other document, a start of a page of the document and an end of the page of the document, the start of the page of the document and an end of another page of the document, the end of the page of the document and a start the other page of the document, a start of a field of the page of the document and an end of the field of the page of the document, the start of the field of the page of the document and an end of another field of the page of the document, or the end of the field of the page of the document and a start of the other field of the page of the document.

56. The computer program product of claim 55, wherein the condition of the at least one rule is not satisfied if any markings occur outside of the time period;

and wherein if the condition is not satisfied, the instructions further comprises instructions to reject any markings that occur outside of the time period.