Method and system for tracking miles to determine traveling distance

• US 7,908,191 B1
• Filed: 11/21/2008
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Tifford, Alan, Dinamani, Vidya, Greener, Keith A., Preece, Richard N., Buhler, Alan F., Taylor, David D., Evans, Cary D. E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Champagne; Luna
• Application Number:
  US12/276,142
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/31
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/02 by conversion into electric waveforms and subsequent integration, e.g. using tachometer generator G01C22/002, G01C22/004, G01C22/006 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/10 together with the recording, indicating or registering of other data, e.g. of signs of identity
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0858 wherein the data carrier is removable

Abstract

A portable computing device associated with a user for tracking mileage in a motor vehicle, including a processor, a memory, a global positioning satellite (GPS) module configured to determine a physical location of the portable computing device, a tracking application stored in the memory of the portable computing device, wherein the tracking application is configured to activate based on a movement of the portable computing device, determine whether a threshold speed is reached by the portable computing device, record a number of miles traveled by the portable computing device in the motor vehicle to obtain tracking data, and display the tracking data for reconciliation by the user, wherein the tracking application determines physical locations of the user using the GPS module, wherein reconciling data includes indicating which tracking data is business related, and wherein the recorded mileage is configured to be downloaded into a financial application.

Claims

1. A portable computing device associated with a user for tracking mileage in a motor vehicle, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a global positioning satellite (GPS) module configured to determine a physical location of the portable computing device;

a tracking application stored in the memory of the portable computing device and configured to interact with the GPS module, wherein the tracking application, when executed by the processor, is configured to;

automatically activate based on a movement of the portable computing device;

determine whether a threshold speed is reached by the portable computing device;

record a number of miles traveled to a business appointment by the portable computing device in the motor vehicle when the threshold speed is reached to obtain tracking data, wherein the tracking application determines a plurality of physical locations of the user using the GPS module; and

send the tracking data to a second computing device, wherein the second computing device is configured to;

obtain information associated with the business appointment of the user from an electronic organizer application configured to execute in the second computing device,

compute a number of future potential miles associated with traveling to the appointment in the motor vehicle,

once computed, store the number of future potential miles as stored potential miles,

receive the tracking data from the portable computing device, and

display the tracking data and the stored potential miles for reconciliation by the user to obtain reconciled data,

receive reconciled data from the user, wherein the reconciled data comprises data the user identifies as actual business related mileage data using the tracking data and the stored potential miles, and

configure the reconciled data to be downloaded into a tax preparation software.

2. The portable computing device of claim 1, wherein reconciling the computed future potential miles with the number of miles comprises:

determining that the user took a detour while traveling to the business appointment using the GPS module;

updating the stored future potential miles when the detour is business related,

wherein the tracking application is configured to determine whether the detour is business related by prompting the user to confirm that the detour is business related on the portable computing device.

3. The portable computing device of claim 1, wherein the tracking application is further configured to:

obtain a plurality of previous transactions completed by the user from an expense report associated with the user; and

determine a subset of previous transactions from the plurality of previous transactions that are business related;

compute business related expenses from the subset of previous transactions; and

store the business related expenses in the tax preparation software.

4. The portable computing device of claim 1, wherein the tax preparation software is configured to help the user file taxes, and wherein the tracking data is stored in a deduction repository and is applied to obtain tax deductions for the user.

5. The portable computing device of claim 1, wherein the tracking data is displayed on a geographical map comprising the plurality of physical locations traveled to by the user.

6. The portable computing device of claim 1, wherein the portable computing device is a mobile phone.

7. The portable computing device of claim 1, wherein the tax preparation software is hosted by a third-party system configured to manage financial data.

8. The portable computing device of claim 1, wherein the threshold speed is six miles per hour.

9. The portable computing device of claim 1, wherein the tracking application is further configured to:

determine whether at least one of the plurality of physical locations of the user is a business location using the GPS module; and

track at least one expense incurred by the user at the business location.

10. The portable computing device of claim 9, wherein the business location is determined by prompting the user and receiving a confirmation from the user in response to the prompt that the at least one physical location is the business location.

11. A computer readable medium for tracking mileage traveled in a motor vehicle, comprising software instructions executed by a processor to:

automatically activate a tracking application based on a movement of a portable computing device associated with a user;

determine whether a threshold speed is reached by the portable computing device;

record a number of miles traveled to a business appointment by the portable computing device in the motor vehicle when the threshold speed is reached to obtain tracking data, wherein the tracking application comprises GPS functionality to determine a plurality of physical locations of the user; and

send the tracking data to a second computing device, wherein the second computing device is configured to;

obtain information associated with the business appointment of the user from an electronic organizer application configured to execute in the second computing device,

compute a number of future potential miles associated with traveling to the appointment in the motor vehicle,

once computed, store the number of future potential miles as stored potential miles,

receive the tracking data from the portable computing device, and

display the tracking data and the stored potential miles for reconciliation by the user to obtain reconciled data,

receiving reconciled data from the user, wherein the reconciled data comprises data the user identifies as actual business related mileage data using the tracking data and the stored potential miles, and

configuring the reconciled data to be downloaded into a tax preparation software.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the software instructions are further configured to:

determine whether at least one of the plurality of physical locations of the user is a business location using the GPS module; and

track at least one expense incurred by the user at the business location.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the tracking application is configured to be downloaded onto a mobile phone.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the tracking data is displayed on a geographical map comprising the plurality of physical locations traveled to by the user.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the tax preparation software is configured to help the user file taxes, and wherein the tracking data is stored in a deduction repository and is applied to obtain tax deductions for the user.

16. A method for tracking mileage traveled in a motor vehicle, comprising:

obtaining information associated with a business appointment of a user from an electronic organizer application;

computing a number of future potential miles associated with traveling to the business appointment in the motor vehicle;

storing the computed future potential miles;

automatically activating a tracking application based on a movement of a portable computing device associated with the user;

determining whether a threshold speed is reached by the portable computing device;

when the threshold speed is reached, recording a number of miles traveled to the business appointment by the portable computing device in the motor vehicle when the threshold speed is reached to obtain tracking data, wherein the tracking application comprises GPS functionality to determine a plurality of physical locations of the user;

receiving the tracking data from the portable computing device;

displaying the tracking data and the stored potential miles for reconciliation by the user to obtain reconciled data

receive reconciled data from the user, wherein the reconciled data comprises data the user identifies as actual business related mileage data using the tracking data and the stored potential miles; and

configuring the reconciled data to be downloaded into a tax preparation software.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein reconciling the computed future potential miles with the number of miles comprises:

determining that the user took a detour while traveling to the business appointment;

updating the stored future potential miles when the detour is business related,

wherein the tracking application determines whether the detour is business related by sending a message to the user on the portable computing device to confirm that the detour is business related.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the tax preparation software is configured to help the user file taxes, and wherein the tracking data is stored in a deduction repository and is applied to obtain tax deductions for the user.