Mobile expense capture and reporting

• US 9,009,070 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2011
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Young, Kyle, Ehrenberg, Michael, Kristiansen, Freddy, Garg, Sunil, Mueller, Lisa, Salunkhe, Sangram, Schuster, Daniel, Manalastas, Alvin, Shah, Nitinkumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Danneman, Paul
• Application Number:
  US13/206,582
• Publication Number:
  US 20120259748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,343 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A mobile computing device based expense capture and reporting system is provided. A mobile expense capture application is an integral part of a networked expense management service such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) service. A user interface enables users to enter expense related information and accept/reject/edit prompted values for various entries. Upon completion of the entries, the information is transmitted to the networked service and/or stored locally. At least a portion of the information is automatically provided based on a location and/or action of the user. Furthermore, the mobile computing device is capable of capturing an expense document and retrieving at least some of the expense information from the captured document.

Claims

1. A method executed at least in part in a computing device for facilitating expense capture and reporting, the method comprising:

automatically detecting an expenditure facilitated through a transaction module of a mobile computing device;

determining whether an expense entry associated with the detected expenditure is to be recorded by user activation or automatically;

in response to detecting an expense document associated with the detected expenditure within a field of view of a camera of the mobile computing device, displaying an expense capture user interface for activation on the mobile computing device;

receiving expense information through the expense capture user interface from the user, wherein at least a portion of the expense information is automatically filled in;

presenting one or more options on the expense capture user interface for the user to accept, reject, and edit the portion of the expense information automatically filled in; and

upon completion of the expense capture, transmitting the expense information wirelessly to an expense management service through a defined interface of the expense management service to automatically fill fields of the expense management service such that the expense management service is configured to perform one or more accounting services.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing the expense document; and

determining at least a part of the automatically filled in portion of the expense information from the captured expense document.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

analyzing the captured expense document employing optical character recognition.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the expense information at the mobile computing device for subsequent processing; and

deleting the stored expense information at the mobile computing device upon transmission to the expense management service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the user'"'"'s location; and

determining at least a part of the automatically filled in portion of the expense information from the user'"'"'s location.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user'"'"'s location is determined based on at least one from a set of:

Global Positioning Service (GPS) information, cellular tower triangulation, wireless data network node detection, an integrated compass, an acceleration sensor, matching of a camera input to known geo-position photos, information from an access control system, information from a calendaring application, and information from a currently executed application on the mobile computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the automatically filled in portion of the expense information from the detected expenditure.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

authenticating at least one of the mobile computing device and the user to the expense management service.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

connecting to an authentication/identity protection service for authenticating at least one of the mobile computing device and the user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to access the expense management service subsequently and process the expense information through a distinct computing device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the expense information through the expense capture user interface from the user includes receiving input from the user through one of:

a physical keyboard entry, a virtual keyboard entry, a voice command, and a gesture.

12. A mobile computing device capable of facilitating expense capture and reporting, the mobile computing device comprising:

a communication module;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the communication module and the memory adapted to execute an expense management application that is configured to;

automatically detect one of a location of a user and an expenditure;

in response to the detection of the location or expenditure, display an expense capture user interface for activation on the mobile computing device;

receive expense information through the expense capture user interface from the user, wherein at least a portion of the expense information is automatically filled in;

upon completion of the expense capture, transmit the expense information wirelessly to a cloud-based expense management service through a defined interface of the cloud-based expense management service to automatically fill fields of the cloud-based expense management service such that the cloud-based expense management service is configured to perform one or more accounting services; and

provide the user access to the expense information at the cloud-based expense management service through another computing device such that the user can process the expense information at the cloud-based expense management service.

13. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

capture an expense document using one of a camera attached to the mobile computing device and a scanner attached to the mobile computing device; and

determine at least a part of the automatically filled in portion of the expense information from the captured expense document.

14. The mobile computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

capture an image of the expense document through one of the camera attached to the mobile computing device and the scanner attached to the mobile computing device.

15. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the expense information to the cloud-based expense management service through one or more of a cellular network, a data network, a and public telephone network upon one of a completion of an expense entry and a connection to a network.

16. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the mobile computing device includes one of a cellular phone, a smart phone, a handheld computer, a vehicle mount computer, and a laptop computer.

17. The mobile computing device of claim 12, wherein the expense information includes at least one from a set of:

a user identity, a company identity, a date/time, an address for the expense, an amount of the expense, a currency of the expense, and a comment.

18. A computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for facilitating expense capture and reporting, the instructions comprising:

automatically detecting an expenditure facilitated through a transaction module of a mobile computing device;

determining whether an expense entry associated with the detected expenditure is to be recorded by user activation or automatically;

in response to detecting an expense document associated with the detected expenditure within a field of view of a camera of a mobile computing device, displaying an expense capture user interface for activation on the mobile computing device;

receiving expense information through the expense capture user interface from the user, wherein at least a portion of the expense information is automatically filled in based on a portion of the the expense document that is captured by the camera;

presenting one or more options on the expense capture user interface for the user to accept, reject, and edit the portion of the expense information automatically filled in;

storing the expense information locally;

upon completion of the expense capture, transmitting the expense information wirelessly to a cloud-based expense management service through a defined interface of the cloud-based expense management service to automatically fill fields of the cloud-based expense management service such that the cloud-based expense management service is configured to perform one or more accounting services;

upon completion of the transmission, deleting the locally stored expense information; and

providing the user access to the expense information at the cloud-based expense management service through another computing device such that the user can process the expense information at the cloud-based expense management service.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

enabling the user to edit automatically filled expense information through one of;

a physical keyboard, a virtual keyboard, a voice command, and a gesture.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the expense information is transmitted to the cloud-based expense management service based on one of user demand and a predefined schedule.