Interview question modification during preparation of electronic tax return

• US 9,916,628 B1
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Issued: 03/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Wang, Gang, McCluskey, Kevin M., Yu, Jay J., Sivertson, Matthew L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Borlinghaus, Jason
• Application Number:
  US14/448,481
• Time in Patent Office: 1,321 Days
• Field of Search: 705 31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

Computer-implemented methods, systems and articles of manufacture for modifying the manner in which interview questions are presented to a user of a tax return preparation application to provide a more personalized experience during preparation of an electronic tax return. A selected question that is consistent with a data model or schema is modified or twisted such that the selected question is reworded or rephrased. The modified question, rather than the original question, is presented to the user. The user'"'"'s answer to the modified question is converted, mapped or “untwisted” to derive a corresponding answer to the original question that is consistent with the data model or schema utilized by the tax return preparation application. The corresponding answer may then be read by a rule engine or logic agent that utilizes a decision table that defines rules to determine which additional or other questions can be presented to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for personalizing a user interface generated by a computerized tax return preparation application during preparation of an electronic tax return, the method being performed by a computer a processor executing computer-executable instructions of the computerized tax return preparation application stored in a data store accessed by the computer and comprising:

the computer, by execution of a modular rule-based logic agent of the computerized tax return preparation application, reading runtime data of the electronic tax return from a shared data store and selecting a first question to be included in a non-binding suggestion, the first question being selected by the modular rule-based logic agent based on a data structure comprising a decision table including a plurality of rows defining respective rules and a plurality of columns defining respective questions and which rules remain after elimination of at least one rule based on the runtime data;

the computer, by execution of a modification module of the computerized tax return preparation application that is in communication with the modular rule-based logic agent and a modular user interface controller, receiving the non-binding suggestion including the selected first question, determining data of a pre-determined attribute of the user based at least in part upon the runtime data of the electronic tax return, and modifying the non-binding suggestion by rephrasing the first question to a second question different from the first question based at least in part upon the pre-determined attribute data and the first question;

the computer, by execution of a modular user interface controller in communication with the modification module, generating an interview screen comprising the second question, presenting the interview screen to the user through a display of the computer such that the second question but not the first question is presented to the user, receiving an answer to the second question through the interview screen, and writing the answer to the second question to the shared data store, and flagging the answer to the second question in the shared data store;

the computer, by execution of a conversion module of the shared data store, detecting the flagged answer to the second question, and determining an answer to the first question that was not presented to the user based at least in part upon the answer to the second question that was presented to the user, wherein the answer to the first question is stored to the shared data store to update the runtime data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computer, by the modular user interface controller, flagging the answer to the second question in the shared data store to indicate that the answer to the second question is not an answer to the first question that was the basis of the non-binding suggestion.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computer, by the modular user interface controller, storing the second question to the shared data store, wherein the second question and the answer to the second question are associated with each other in the shared data store.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computer, by the modification module:

converting the answer to the second question that was presented to the user into an answer to the first question that was not presented to the user, wherein the answer to the first question and the answer to the second question are different from each other.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first question that was not presented to the user, the answer to the first question, the second question that was presented to the user and the answer to the second question are associated with each other in the shared data store.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising, after converting the answer to the second question into the answer to the first question, the computer, by the shared data store:

receiving a request from a modular rule engine for the answer to the first question; and

serving the answer to the first question in response to the modular rule engine in response to the request.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computer by the shared data store receiving a request from the modular rule engine for the answer to the first question;

and in response to the request, the computer, by the modification module, converting the answer to the second question into a corresponding answer to the first question, and the computer, by the shared data store, serving the answer to the first question to the modular rule engine in response to the request.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising

the computer, by the modification module, converting the answer to the second question into the answer to the first question;

and storing the answer to the first question to the shared data store,

the computer, by the modular rule engine, reading the answer to the first question from the shared data store, determining a second non-binding suggestion based at least in part upon the decision table and the answer to the first question and transmitting the second non-binding suggestion to the modular user interface controller,

the computer, by the modular user interface controller, determining whether or how to process the second non-binding suggestion comprising the third question.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first question is specified by a column of the decision table utilized by the rule engine, and the second question is not specified by the decision table.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first question is structured in a manner that is consistent with a data model or schema of the shared data store of the computerized ax return preparation application, and at least one of the second question and the answer to the second question is not structured in a manner that is consistent with the data model or schema.

11. The method of claim 10, the plurality of rules being expressed based at least in part upon the data model or schema of the shared data store of the computerized tax return preparation application.

12. The method of claim 1, the first question being in a form of a question concerning user data to be entered into the electronic tax return, and the second question being in a different form than the first question.

13. The method of claim 12, the different form of the second question comprising an assumption of user data.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein an answer to the first question is derived from the answer to the second question, and the answer to the first question is different from the answer to the second question.

15. The method of claim 1, the second question being different from the first question by being twisted relative to the first question such that a common answer to the first question and the second question convey different meanings.

16. The method of claim 1, the second question being different from the first question by rewording or rephrasing the first question such that the first question and the second question request the same or substantially similar information in different ways for determining electronic tax return information to be stored to the shored data store based on respective different answers to respective first and second questions.

17. The method of claim 15, the second question being twisted relative to the first question such that a first binary answer to the second question conveys the same or substantially similar meaning as a second binary answer to the first question, wherein the second binary answer is different from the first binary answer.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computer receiving a request by the user to personalize the tax preparation application for the user, the modification module being triggered to determine the second question in response to the user'"'"'s request.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the modification module is triggered to determine the second question being automatically based at least in part upon the computer receiving or determining data of the pre-determined attribute.

20. The method of claim 1, the pre-determined attribute data comprising demographic data of the user.

21. The method of claim 20, the demographic data comprising an age of the user, wherein the modification module is triggered to determine the second question when the age of the user is less than a pre-determined age.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the first question is presented to the user when the age of the user is at least the pre-determined age, and the modification module is triggered to determine the second question when the age of the user is less than the pre-determined age such that the second question but not the first question is presented to the user through the display.

23. The method of claim 1, the pre-determined attribute comprising a type of computing device utilized to prepare the electronic tax return.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the modification module is triggered to determine the second question and present the second question but not the first question to the user in response to determining that the computing device executing the computerized tax return preparation application and utilized to prepare the electronic tax return is a mobile communication device.

25. The method of claim 1, the computer, by the modification module, determining the second question based on searching a table for the pre-determined attribute and identifying the second question in the table associated with data of the pre-determined attribute in the table.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising the computer, by the modification module, determining a first probability of a positive response to the first question and a second probability of a positive response to the second question, wherein the modification module is triggered to select the second question for presentation to the user based at least in part upon the second probability being greater than the first probability.

27. The method of claim 1, the first question comprising a single question, and the second question comprising an aggregation of sub-questions, wherein the received answer to the second question applies to each of the sub-questions.

28. The method of claim 27, each of the first question and the sub-questions of the second question being based on a data model or schema of the shared data store of the computerized tax return preparation application.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising the computer, by the conversion module of the shared data store:

parsing the second question to determine respective sub-questions; and

storing the received answer as the answer to each of the sub-questions in the shared data store.

30. The method of claim 27, the first question comprising a single question, and the second question comprising an aggregation of sub-questions including:

a question that is based on a data model or schema of the shared data store of the computerized tax return preparation application, and

a question that is not based on the data model or schema, further comprising the computer, by the conversion module of the shared data store;

parsing the sub-questions of the second question,

storing, in the shared data store, the received answer as the answer to a sub-question that is based on the data model or schema,

converting or mapping the received answer into a different answer for a sub-question or answer that is not based on the data model or schema; and

storing the different answer in the shared data store.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising, the modular rule-based logic agent requesting the answer to the first question from the shared data store and

answer to the first question that was not presented to the user and that was determined by converting or mapping the answer to the second question.

32. The method of claim 1, further comprising

the computer, by the modular rule-based logic agent, reading the updated runtime data including the answer to the first question from the shared data store, selecting a third question to be included in a second non-binding suggestion, the second question being selected by the modular rule-based logic agent based on the decision table;

the computer, by the modification module, receiving the second non-binding suggestion including the selected third question, determining data of a second pre-determined attribute of the user based at least in part upon the updated runtime data of the electronic tax return, and modifying the second non-binding suggestion by rephrasing the third question to form a fourth question different from the third question;

the computer, by execution of the modular user interface controller, generating a second interview screen comprising the fourth question, presenting the second interview screen including the fourth question to the user through the display such that the fourth question but not the third question is presented to the user, receiving an answer to the fourth question through the interview screen, writing the answer to the fourth question to the shared data store, and flagging the answer to the fourth question in the shared data store; and

the computer, by the conversion module of the shared data store, detecting the flagged answer to the fourth question, and determining an answer to the third question that was not presented to the user based at least in part upon the answer to the fourth question that was presented to the user, wherein the answer to the third question is stored to the shared data store to update the runtime data.

33. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor of a computing device, causes the computing device to execute a process for presenting a personalized interview question to a user of a tax return preparation application during preparation of an electronic tax return perform a method comprising:

executing a modular rule-based logic agent of the computerized tax return preparation application, wherein execution of the modular rule-based logic agent comprises reading runtime data of the electronic tax return from a shared data store and selecting a first question to be included in a non-binding suggestion, the first question being selected by the modular rule-based logic agent based on a data structure comprising a decision table including a plurality of rows defining respective rules and a plurality of columns defining respective questions and which rules remain after elimination of at least one rule based on the runtime data;

executing a modification module of the computerized tax return preparation application that is in communication with the modular rule-based logic agent and a modular user interface controller, wherein execution of the modification module comprises receiving the non-binding suggestion including the selected first question, determining data of a pre-determined attribute of the user based at least in part upon the runtime data of the electronic tax return, and modifying the nonbinding suggestion by rephrasing the first question to a second question different from the first question based at least in part upon the pre-determined attribute data and the first question;

executing a modular user interface controller in communication with the modification module, wherein execution of the modular user interface controller comprises generating an interview screen comprising the second question, presenting the interview screen to the user through a display of the computer such that the second question but not the first question is presented to the user, receiving an answer to the second question through the interview screen, and writing the answer to the second question to the shared data store, and flagging the answer to the second question in the shared data store; and

executing a conversion module of the shared data store, wherein execution of the conversion module comprises detecting the flagged answer to the second question, and determining an answer to the first question that was not presented to the user based at least in part upon the answer to the second question that was presented to the user, wherein the answer to the first question is stored to the shared data store to update the runtime data.