SYSTEMS, METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FORM BUILDING

• US 20130097480A1
• Filed: 07/12/2012
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MFTB Holdco Incorporated
• Original Assignee: DotLoop LLC (Zillow Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Allison, Gregory Austin, Vorst, Matthew Allan, Jayaram, Nandagopal Mysore
• Granted Patent: US 9,858,548 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided for generating electronic transactional documents using a form generating system. The electronic transactional document may be created using a design tool that allows a user to place data entry fields over an image or snap shot of a transactional document. Rules, default values, and attributes associated with the date entry fields may be established as the electronic transactional document is being created.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a form building system comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon which when executed by a processor cause the processor to;

receive, from a user, a selection of an electronic form;

cause the display of an image of the electronic form, wherein at least a portion of the image overlaps an electronic canvas;

receive, from the user, a selection of a data entry field;

receive, from the user, a placement position of the data entry field, wherein the placement position is a location within the bounds of the electronic canvas; and

store in a data store a form record, the form record comprising;

an indication of the data entry field; and

the placement position of the data entry field.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the image of the electronic form is caused to be displayed on a user interface.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium has instructions stored thereon which when executed by the processor cause the processor to:

receive an initial value for the data entry field; and

add the initial value to the form record.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the initial value is any of a numerical value, a binary value, and a check mark status.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium has instructions stored thereon which when executed by the processor cause the processor to:

receive a processing rule for the data entry field; and

add the processing rule to the form record.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the data entry field is dependent on a parent data field and the processing rule checks a data entry in the parent data field prior to allowing data entry in the data entry field.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the placement position of the data entry field comprises a horizontal placement coordinate and a vertical placement coordinate.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the horizontal placement coordinate and a vertical placement coordinate identify an area of the electronic canvas.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the electronic form comprises a whitespace corresponding to a form entry and wherein the area of the electronic canvas is proximate the whitespace.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium has instructions stored thereon which when executed by the processor cause the processor to:

receive the placement position of the data entry field through a drag and drop operation.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein, when the electronic form comprises a plurality of pages, the placement position comprises a page indicator.

12. A computer-implemented method for electronic form generation, the method comprising:

displaying, to a first user by a user interface, a human-readable snapshot of an electronic form, the human-readable snapshot having an answer space;

receiving, from the first user by the user interface, a positional location of a field, wherein the positional location is indicative of the position of the field relative to the human-readable snapshot of the electronic form, and wherein the positional location is proximate to the answer space of the human-readable snapshot; and

storing the positional location of the field in a data store.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the positional location of the field is received through a drag and drop operation.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the field is any of a drop down box, a radio button, a text field, an e-signature field, a check box, a date block, an initial block, form field block, and a lock block.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, comprising:

receiving, from the first user through the user interface, a default value for the field; and

storing the default value in the data store.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, comprising:

storing a processing rule in the data store, wherein the processing rule is associated with the field.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, comprising:

subsequent to storing the positional location of the field in the data store, displaying to a second user a composite form, the composite form comprising a human-readable version of the electronic form and the field positioned on the human-readable version of the electronic form based on the positional location;

receiving, from the second user, a value for the field;

storing a workflow data record in a workflow record data store, the workflow data record comprising an electronic form name, a field identifier, and the value for the field received from the second user.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, comprising:

storing an entry log file in a log data store, the entry log file comprising a log of entries into the field.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, comprising:

storing an form log file in a log data store, the form log file comprising a log of changes made to the composite form.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for electronic form generation, that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

display an image of a document on a graphical user interface, the image of the document having graphical bounds;

display a plurality of data entry field types on the graphical user interface;

receive a selection of one of the data entry fields;

receive a selected placement of the selected data entry field, the selected placement within the graphical bounds of the image of the document; and

store data indicative of the selected placement of the selected data entry field in a data store.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium has instructions stored thereon which when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

confine placement location of the selected data entry field to within the bounds of an electronic canvas, wherein the electronic canvas overlays at least a portion of the image of the document.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium has instructions stored thereon which when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

receive an initial value for the selected data entry field; and

store the initial value for the selected data entry field.