Online home improvement document management service

• US 8,499,335 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2008
• Issued: 07/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Evanitsky, Eugene S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoffman, Brandon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Song, Hee
• Application Number:
  US12/107,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20090265761A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,925 Days
• Field of Search: 370352-356, 358/1.15, 358/403, 706/12, 709/201, 709/203, 707/756, 707/10, 707/100, 726/3, 726/4
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate

Abstract

An online home improvement document management service includes a host server having a web-based interface adapted to facilitate secure customer access to the host server. The host server is configured to receive home improvement data communicated from the customer through use of a computing device. A processing module is in operative communication with the host server and is configured to process the home improvement data communicated from the customer. A processing software application is trained to classify the processed home improvement data and selectively extract data therefrom based on the classification. The processing software application is configured to selectively present the processed home improvement data for a customer verification via the web-based interface upon at least one of an unsuccessful classification and an unsuccessful extraction of data. A storage device is in operative communication with the processing module and is configured to store the extracted data as metadata upon at least one of the customer verification and the extraction. A content management software application is configured to detect at least one of a customer request through the web-based interface and at least one triggering condition corresponding to the metadata. The content management software application generates at least one report based on the detection of at least one of the customer request and the at least one triggering condition.

Claims

1. A method of providing an online home improvement document management service, the method comprising:

receiving an imaged home improvement document from a computing device;

performing optical character recognition on the imaged home improvement document to derive document text;

assigning the imaged home improvement document a classification based on the document text, an indication of the classification from a user, or both;

extracting a subset of the document text as home improvement data based on the classification, wherein the home improvement data is for a property owned by a property owner;

transmitting the home improvement data to the user;

receiving verification of the home improvement data from the user;

storing the home improvement data in a storage device based on the verification of the home improvement data from the user;

detecting, by one or more processors, a triggering condition regarding a tax implication based on the home improvement data; and

alerting a user of the tax implication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is the property owner.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is a third party.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the third party is an heir of the property owner.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the tax implication comprises an inheritance tax with respect to the property.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax implication comprises a capital gains tax with respect to the property.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting one or more tax forms to the user related to the tax implication.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

populating entries in the one or more tax forms with information derived from the home improvement data prior to transmitting the one or more tax forms to the user.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

retrieving the one or more tax forms from a government database prior to transmitting the one or more tax forms to the user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving tax information from one or more websites; and

wherein detecting the triggering condition comprises consulting the tax information to determine the tax implication.

11. A system configured to provide an online home improvement document management service, the system comprising:

a processing system comprising one more processors; and

a memory system comprising one or more computer-readable media, wherein the computer-readable media contain instructions that, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising;

receiving an imaged home improvement document from a computing device;

performing optical character recognition on the imaged home improvement document to derive document text;

assigning the imaged home improvement document a classification based on the document text, an indication of the classification from a user, or both;

extracting a subset of the document text as home improvement data based on the classification, wherein the home improvement data is for a property owned by a owner;

transmitting the home improvement data to the user;

receiving verification of the home improvement data from the user;

storing the home improvement data in the memory system based on the verification of the home improvement data from the user;

detecting a triggering condition regarding a tax implication based on the home improvement data; and

alerting a user of the tax implication.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the user is the property owner.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the user is a third party.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the third party is an heir of the property owner.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the tax implication comprises an inheritance tax with respect to the property.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the tax implication comprises a capital gains tax with respect to the property.

17. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

transmitting one or more tax forms to the user related to the tax implication.

18. The system of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

populating entries in the one or more tax forms with information derived from the home improvement data prior to transmitting the one or more tax forms to the user.

19. The system of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

retrieving the one or more tax forms from a government database prior to transmitting the one or more tax forms to the user.

20. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

retrieving tax information from one or more websites; and

wherein detecting the triggering condition comprises consulting the tax information to determine the tax implication.