FORM AUTO-FILLING USING A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20150248391A1
• Filed: 02/28/2014
• Published: 09/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Watanabe, Kaoru
• Application Number:
  US14/194,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20150248391A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/412 Layout analysis of documents structured with printed lines or input boxes, e.g. business forms or tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/416 Extracting the logical structure, e.g. chapters, sections or page numbers; Identifying elements of the document, e.g. authors

Abstract

Techniques are provided for acquiring form document data representing a form document; parsing the form document data of the form document to extract one or more data information components; identifying a database that stores one or more text strings in association with one or more data text labels; and generating filled form document data of a filled form document. The generating is performed by: for each data information component, of the one or more data information components of the form document, having an associated data text label: based on, at least in part, the associated data text label, retrieving, from the database, a text string that is associated with the data text label; and inserting the text string into a data text field of the data information component at the data text field location.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories storing instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile device to perform;

acquiring form document data representing a form document;

parsing the form document data of the form document to extract one or more data information components;

wherein each data information component, of the one or more data information components, comprises one or more of;

a data text label, a data text field, and a data text field location, wherein the data text field location indicates a location of the data text field on the form document, and wherein the data text field is labelled with the data text label and is to be filled with a text string;

identifying a database that stores one or more text strings in association with one or more data text labels;

generating filled form document data of a filled form document by performing;

for each data information component, of the one or more data information components of the form document, having the associated data text label;

based on, at least in part, the associated data text label, retrieving, from the database, the text string that is associated with the data text label; and

inserting the text string into the data text field of the data information component at the data text field location.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the acquiring form document data representing a form document is performed by one or more of:

generating the form document data based on a photograph of the form document taken by a camera device communicatively coupled with the mobile device;

generating the form document data by scanning the form document using a scanner communicatively coupled with the mobile device;

scanning a quick response (QR) code depicted in the form document and retrieving, based on the QR code, the form document data;

receiving an entity identifier of an entity for which the form document is required, and retrieving, based on the entity identifier, the form document data;

receiving the entity identifier of the entity for which the form document is required, retrieving, based on the entity identifier, one or more form identifiers, displaying the one or more form identifiers to the user, and upon receiving a user selection of a particular form identifier, retrieving, based on, at least in part, the particular form identifier, the form document data;

receiving a location identifier of a location of the user and retrieving, based on, at least in part, the location identifier, the form document data representing the form document;

wherein the location identifier is provided by a global positioning system (GPS);

or

receiving the location identifier of the location of the user, retrieving, based on the location identifier, the one or more form identifiers, displaying the one or more form identifiers to the user, and upon receiving a user selection of the particular form identifier, retrieving, based on, at last in part, the particular form identifier, the form document data.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the instructions that cause the acquiring form document data representing a form document store additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile device to perform:

receiving a digital image of the form document; and

converting the digital image to the form document data using an optical character recognition (OCR) application.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the database is implemented at one or more of:

a local database that is locally accessible to the mobile device;

a remote database that is remotely accessible to the mobile devices;

a server database that is accessible to the mobile device via a server computer;

or

a cloud system database that is accessible to the mobile device via a cloud service.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the one or more memories store additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile device to perform:

transmitting the filled form document data to a system device;

wherein the system device comprises any one of;

a printing device, a multifunction printing device (MFP), a server system, a cloud system, a display device.

6. The mobile device of claim 4, wherein the one or more memories store additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile device to perform:

acquiring one or more user profiles created for a user of the mobile device;

parsing each of the one or more user profiles to determine a plurality of label-string pairs;

wherein each label-string pair, of the plurality of label-string pairs, comprises a pair text label and a pair text string;

determining whether any two label-string pairs, of the plurality of label-string pairs, comprise the same pair text label, but different pair text strings, and in response thereto, selecting one of the two label string pairs and deleting another label-string pair of the two label-string pairs; and

storing, in the database, the remaining label-string pairs.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the one or more memories store additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause the mobile device to perform:

determining whether, for a particular data information component, of the one or more data information components, a particular data text label is stored in the database;

determining whether, for the particular data text label, a particular text string is stored in the database; and

in response to determining that, for the particular data text label, no particular text string is stored in the database, generating and displaying for a user of the mobile device a notification indicating that no particular text string is available for the particular data information component.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

acquiring form document data representing a form document;

parsing the form document data of the form document to extract one or more data information components;

wherein each data information component, of the one or more data information components, comprises one or more of;

a data text label, a data text field, and a data text field location,

wherein the data text field location indicates a location of the data text field on the form document, and wherein the data text field is labelled with the data text label and is to be filled with a text string;

identifying a database that stores one or more text strings in association with one or more data text labels;

generating filled form document data of a filled form document by performing;

for each data information component, of the one or more data information components of the form document, having the associated data text label;

based on, at least in part, the associated data text label, retrieving, from the database, the text string that is associated with the data text label; and

inserting the text string into the data text field of the data information component at the data text field location.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, storing additional instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more of:

generating the form document data based on a photograph of the form document taken by a camera device communicatively coupled with the mobile device;

generating the form document data by scanning the form document using a scanner communicatively coupled with the mobile device;

scanning a quick response (QR) code depicted in the form document and retrieving, based on the QR code, the form document data;

receiving an entity identifier of an entity for which the form document is required, and retrieving, based on the entity identifier, the form document data;

receiving the entity identifier of the entity for which the form document is required, retrieving, based on the entity identifier, one or more form identifiers, displaying the one or more form identifiers to the user, and upon receiving a user selection of a particular form identifier, retrieving, based on, at least in part, the particular form identifier, the form document data;

receiving a location identifier of a location of the user and retrieving, based on, at least in part, the location identifier, the form document data representing the form document;

wherein the location identifier is provided by a global positioning system (GPS);

or

receiving the location identifier of the location of the user, retrieving, based on the location identifier, the one or more form identifiers, displaying the one or more form identifiers to the user, and upon receiving a user selection of the particular form identifier, retrieving, based on, at last in part, the particular form identifier, the form document data.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, storing additional instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

receiving a digital image of the form document; and

converting the digital image to the form document data using an optical character recognition (OCR) application.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the database is implemented at one or more of:

a local database that is locally accessible to the mobile device;

a remote database that is remotely accessible to the mobile devices;

a server database that is accessible to the mobile device via a server computer;

or a cloud system database that is accessible to the mobile device via a cloud service.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, storing additional instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

transmitting the filled form document data to a system device;

wherein the system device comprises any one of;

a printing device, a multifunction printing device (MFP), a server system, a cloud system, a display device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, storing additional instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

acquiring one or more user profiles created for a user of the mobile device;

parsing each of the one or more user profiles to determine a plurality of label-string pairs;

wherein each label-string pair, of the plurality of label-string pairs, comprises a pair text label and a pair text string;

determining whether any two label-string pairs, of the plurality of label-string pairs, comprise the same pair text label, but different pair text strings, and in response thereto, selecting one of the two label string pairs and deleting another label-string pair of the two label-string pairs; and

storing, in the database, the remaining label-string pairs.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, storing additional instructions which, when processed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

determining whether, for a particular data information component, of the one or more data information components, a particular data text label is stored in the database;

determining whether, for the particular data text label, a particular text string is stored in the database; and

in response to determining that, for the particular data text label, no particular text string is stored in the database, generating and displaying for a user of the mobile device a notification indicating that no particular text string is available for the particular data information component.

15. A method, comprising:

acquiring form document data representing a form document;

parsing the form document data of the form document to extract one or more data information components;

wherein each data information component, of the one or more data information components, comprises one or more of;

a data text label, a data text field, and a data text field location, wherein the data text field location indicates a location of the data text field on the form document, and wherein the data text field is labelled with the data text label and is to be filled with a text string;

identifying a database that stores one or more text strings in association with one or more data text labels;

generating filled form document data of a filled form document by performing;

for each data information component, of the one or more data information components of the form document, having the associated data text label;

based on, at least in part, the associated data text label, retrieving, from the database, the text string that is associated with the data text label; and

inserting the text string into the data text field of the data information component at the data text field location;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising performing one or more of:

generating the form document data based on a photograph of the form document taken by a camera device communicatively coupled with the mobile device;

generating the form document data by scanning the form document using a scanner communicatively coupled with the mobile device;

scanning a quick response (QR) code depicted in the form document and retrieving, based on the QR code, the form document data;

receiving an entity identifier of an entity for which the form document is required, and retrieving, based on the entity identifier, the form document data;

receiving the entity identifier of the entity for which the form document is required, retrieving, based on the entity identifier, one or more form identifiers, displaying the one or more form identifiers to the user, and upon receiving a user selection of a particular form identifier, retrieving, based on, at least in part, the particular form identifier, the form document data;

receiving a location identifier of a location of the user and retrieving, based on, at least in part, the location identifier, the form document data representing the form document;

wherein the location identifier is provided by a global positioning system (GPS);

or

receiving the location identifier of the location of the user, retrieving, based on the location identifier, the one or more form identifiers, displaying the one or more form identifiers to the user, and upon receiving a user selection of the particular form identifier, retrieving, based on, at last in part, the particular form identifier, the form document data.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the database is implemented at one or more of:

a local database that is locally accessible to the mobile device;

a remote database that is remotely accessible to the mobile devices;

a server database that is accessible to the mobile device via a server computer;

or a cloud system database that is accessible to the mobile device via a cloud service.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting the filled form document data to a system device;

wherein the system device comprises any one of;

a printing device, a multifunction printing device (MFP), a server system, a cloud system, a display device.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

acquiring one or more user profiles created for a user of the mobile device;

parsing each of the one or more user profiles to determine a plurality of label-string pairs;

wherein each label-string pair, of the plurality of label-string pairs, comprises a pair text label and a pair text string;

determining whether any two label-string pairs, of the plurality of label-string pairs, comprise the same pair text label, but different pair text strings, and in response thereto, selecting one of the two label string pairs and deleting another label-string pair of the two label-string pairs; and

storing, in the database, the remaining label-string pairs.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining whether, for a particular data information component, of the one or more data information components, a particular data text label is stored in the database;

determining whether, for the particular data text label, a particular text string is stored in the database; and

in response to determining that, for the particular data text label, no particular text string is stored in the database, generating and displaying for a user of the mobile device a notification indicating that no particular text string is available for the particular data information component.