Receipts scanner and financial organizer

• US 8,009,334 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2010
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bright Capture LLC (Jeffrey M. Gross)
• Original Assignee: Kris Engineering, Inc.
• Inventors: Pandipati, Radha K. C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Worku, Negussie
• Application Number:
  US12/782,271
• Publication Number:
  US 20100228659A1
• Time in Patent Office: 469 Days
• Field of Search: 358/474, 358/1.15, 358/473, 358/501, 358/505, 358/513, 382/313, 382/311, 382/165, 235/380, 235/375
• US Class Current: 358/474
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/128 Check-book balancing, updating or printing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/04 Scanning arrangements , i.e. arrangements for the displacement of active reading or reproducing elements relative to the original or reproducing medium, or vice versaH04N1/387 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/387 Composing, repositioning or otherwise geometrically modifying originals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3871 the composed originals being of different kinds, e.g. low- and high-resolution originals

Abstract

The system contains a scanner, an apparatus for scanning receipts into a computer and a unique software program which automatically processes, organizes and saves expense information that can be viewed in various formats, namely, tabular statements, pie-charts, etc. The scanner, which accommodates paper of differing sizes, is used to input bills, receipts, bank statements, etc. The scanner is usually connected to a computer through a Universal Serial Bus or a parallel port for easy installation. The software program creates a text file of the scanned data by inclusion of sorting, categories, etc., and automatically saves the information in Quicken Interchange Format, allowing it to be imported into any financial management software for further processing. Each receipt is treated as an individual transaction. Multiple items in the receipt are used to create a “split” transaction with proper customizable categories added. Further, the software also allows for record keeping, budgeting and budget balancing.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method of processing expense information, the method comprising:

receiving scanned information of a receipt from a scanner, the scanned information including information regarding various types of receipts having various formats and having different sizes, each of said receipts containing expense information printed thereon;

processing said scanned information including numerical data in the receipt to obtain said expense information from said scanned information;

categorizing said expense information for each receipt into one or more predetermined categories to obtain categorized information for each receipt,

wherein said categorized information for each receipt is combined with categorized information for other said receipts to produce report information for one or more of said predetermined categories,

wherein the various types of receipts include grocery receipts, purchase receipts, credit card receipts and bank statements.

2. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the scanned information is received via a USB port or a pass through parallel port from the scanner.

3. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the scanned information from the scanned receipts is automatically received from the scanner, and the expense information for each receipt is captured from the scanned information for each receipt and categorized into one or more of said predetermined categories.

4. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

outputting the report information to a display device for display in a tabular form, a pie-chart form, or as a text file.

5. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 4, wherein formats of the report information may be output to be displayed in tabular form, such formats including income-expense reports, expenses versus planned budget, cash flow, or a list of all expenses grouped under said one or more predetermined categories.

6. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

enabling editing the expense information obtained from each of the scanned receipts.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

saving the expense information processed from the scanned receipts in Quicken Interchange Format, thereby allowing the expense information obtained from the scanned information to be imported by a financial management program.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

organizing each scanned receipt as an individual transaction so that the expense information obtained from the scanned information for each scanned receipt is able to be individually viewed and edited.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 8, wherein multiple items in the receipt are used to create a split transaction having the categorized information categorized into customizable categories.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

outputting information to enable displaying tabular data on a display device for comparison with pre-customized budgets or limits in each said one or more predetermined category.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the scanned information is information regarding receipts that are optically scanned and converted to a corresponding digital image containing the expense information therein.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

outputting the expense information in a user selected format which includes a tabular statement, a pie chart and a text file.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method of processing expense information, the method comprising:

receiving scanned information of a receipt from a scanner, the scanned information being information regarding various types of receipts of various formats, each of said receipts containing expense information printed thereon, said scanner outputting a scan of each receipt to software as expense information;

processing said scanned information by collecting said expense information from said scanned information;

organizing said expense information collected from said scanned information of each of said receipts by categorizing said expense information into one or more predetermined expense categories to obtain report information; and

outputting said report information for at least one of said predetermined categories to a display device.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the scanned information is information of receipts that are of various formats including grocery receipts, purchase receipts, credit card receipts or bank statements and having different sizes.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

editing the expense information collected from the scans of each of said receipts.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

saving the expense information collected from the scans of said receipts in Quicken Interchange Format, thereby enabling the expense information collected from the scans to be imported by a financial management program.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

organizing each scan of said receipts as an individual transaction so that the expense information obtained from each scanned receipt is able to be individually viewed and edited.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the scanner optically scans receipts and converts the receipts to a scan which is a corresponding digital image containing the expense information therein.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

outputting the expense information in a user selected format which includes a tabular statement, a pie chart and a text file.

20. A system which processes and organizes expense information, comprising:

a scanner to scan various types of receipts having various formats and having different sizes, each of said receipts containing expense information including numerical data printed thereon, where said scanner produces scanned information from each of said receipts;

a computer in communication with said scanner, to receive said scanned information, process said scanned information of each of said receipts to obtain said expense information, and categorize said expense information into one or more predetermined categories to obtain categorized information for each of said receipts; and

a display device to display said categorized information for each of said receipts as report information for one or more of said predetermined categories,

wherein the various types of receipts include grocery receipts, purchase receipts, credit card receipts and bank statements.

21. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the scanned information is received via a USB port or a pass through parallel port from the scanner.

22. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the scanned information from the scanned receipts is automatically received from the scanner, and the expense information for each receipt is captured from the scanned information for each receipt and categorized into one or more of said predetermined categories.

23. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the report information to be displayed is in a tabular form, a pie-chart form, or as a text file.

24. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 23, wherein formats of the report information may be output to be displayed in tabular form, such formats including income-expense reports, expenses versus planned budget, cash flow, or a list of all expenses grouped under said one or more predetermined categories.

25. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the computer edits the expense information obtained from each of the scanned receipts.

26. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the computer saves the expense information processed from the scanned receipts in Quicken Interchange Format, thereby allowing the expense information obtained from the scanned information to be imported by a financial management program.

27. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the computer organizes each scanned receipt as an individual transaction so that the expense information obtained from the scanned information for each scanned receipt is able to be individually viewed and edited.

28. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 27, wherein multiple items in the receipt are used to create a split transaction having the categorized information categorized into customizable categories.

29. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the display device displays report information as tabular data for comparison with pre-customized budgets or limits in each of said one or more predetermined categories.

30. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the scanned information is information regarding receipts that are optically scanned and converted to a corresponding digital image containing the expense information therein.

31. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 20, wherein the expense information organized by the computer is in a user selected format which includes a tabular statement, a pie chart and a text file.

32. A system which processes and organizes expense information, comprising:

a scanner to scan various types of receipts having various formats, each of said receipts containing expense information including numerical data printed thereon, where said scanner outputs scanned information from each of said receipts as expense information;

a computer in communication with said scanner, to receive said expense information collected from each of said receipts, process said expense information by collecting said expense information for each of said receipts, and organize said expense information collected for each or said receipts by categorizing said expense information into one or more predetermined categories to obtain report information; and

a display device to display said report information for one or more of said predetermined categories.

33. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 32, wherein the scanned information is information of receipts that are of various formats including grocery receipts, purchase receipts, credit card receipts or bank statements and having different sizes.

34. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 32, wherein the computer edits the expense information collected from each of said receipts.

35. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 32, wherein the computer saves the expense information collected from the scans of said receipts in Quicken Interchange Format, thereby enabling the expense information collected from the scans to be imported by a financial management program.

36. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 32, wherein the computer organizes each scan of said receipts as an individual transaction so that the expense information obtained from each scanned receipt is able to be individually viewed and edited.

37. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 32, wherein the scanner optically scans receipts and converts the receipts to a scan which is a corresponding digital image containing the expense information therein.

38. A system which processes and organizes expense information as claimed in claim 32, wherein the expense information organized by the computer is in a user selected format which includes a tabular statement, a pie chart and a text file.