SMART FORM

• US 20110010202A1
• Filed: 07/13/2009
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Neale, Michael D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,947,043 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40

Abstract

Some embodiments of a system and a method to dynamically create a smart form have been presented. In one embodiment, a graphical user interface (GUI) module, running on a server, creates a GUI to present a questionnaire having at least one question to an end-user. A rule engine, running on the server, receives an answer to the at least one question via the GUI from the end-user. Using truth maintenance, the rule engine may determine what follow-up questions to ask the end-user based on the answer received. The GUI module may dynamically modify the GUI to present the follow-up questions to the end-user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a graphical user interface (GUI) module, running on a server, creating a GUI to present a questionnaire having at least one question to an end-user;

a rule engine, running on the server, receiving an answer to the at least one question via the GUI from the end-user;

the rule engine using truth maintenance to determine what follow-up questions to ask the end-user based on the answer received; and

the GUI module dynamically modifying the GUI to present the follow-up questions to the end-user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the GUI module dynamically modifying the GUI to present a different set of follow-up questions to the end-user if the end-user changes the answer to the at least one question.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the follow-up questions are logically related to the answer received.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the rule engine receiving one or more rules associated with the questionnaire and a plurality of potential follow-up questions;

the rule engine asserting the answer as a fact in a working memory of the rule engine; and

the rule engine applying the one or more rules associated with the questionnaire to the fact to select the follow-up questions from the plurality of potential follow-up questions.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule engine using truth maintenance comprises:

the rule engine constructing a logic tree to accumulate evidence, wherein the logic tree comprises a plurality of nodes associated with the follow-up questions, and a plurality of branches representing possible answers to the follow-up questions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the questionnaire is a life insurance application form.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a graphical user interface (GUI) module to create a GUI to present a questionnaire having at least one question to an end-user;

a rule engine to receive an answer to the at least one question via the GUI from the end-user, wherein the rule engine is operable to use truth maintenance to determine what follow-up questions to ask the end-user based on the answer received, and the GUI module is operable to dynamically modify the GUI to present the follow-up questions to the end-user.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the GUI module dynamically modifies the GUI to present a different set of follow-up questions to the end-user if the end-user changes the answer to the at least one question.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the follow-up questions are logically related to the answer received.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the rule engine receives one or more rules associated with the questionnaire and a plurality of potential follow-up questions, asserts the answer as a fact in a working memory of the rule engine, and applies the one or more rules associated with the questionnaire to the fact to select the follow-up questions from the plurality of potential follow-up questions.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the rule engine constructs a logic tree to accumulate evidence, wherein the logic tree comprises a plurality of nodes associated with the follow-up questions, and a plurality of branches representing possible answers to the follow-up questions.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the questionnaire is a life insurance application form.

13. An system comprising the apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a server on which the rule engine is executed.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a client machine coupled to the server via a network, wherein the client machine comprises a display device to render the GUI.

15. A computer-readable storage medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a processor, will cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

a graphical user interface (GUI) module, running on a server, creating a GUI to present a questionnaire having at least one question to an end-user;

a rule engine, running on the server, receiving an answer to the at least one question via the GUI from the end-user;

the rule engine using truth maintenance to determine what follow-up questions to ask the end-user based on the answer received; and

the GUI module dynamically modifying the GUI to present the follow-up questions to the end-user.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

the GUI module dynamically modifying the GUI to present a different set of follow-up questions to the end-user if the end-user changes the answer to the at least one question.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the follow-up questions are logically related to the answer received.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

the rule engine receiving one or more rules associated with the questionnaire and a plurality of potential follow-up questions;

the rule engine asserting the answer as a fact in a working memory of the rule engine; and

the rule engine applying the one or more rules associated with the questionnaire to the fact to select the follow-up questions from the plurality of potential follow-up questions.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

the rule engine constructing a logic tree to accumulate evidence, wherein the logic tree comprises a plurality of nodes associated with the follow-up questions, and a plurality of branches representing possible answers to the follow-up questions.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the questionnaire is a life insurance application form.