Reverse mapping method and apparatus for form filling

• US 7,779,345 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2003
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Topalov, Ognian Z., Hohenstein, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore; William L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ludwig; Matthew J
• Application Number:
  US10/631,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20050028082A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,575 Days
• Field of Search: 715/221, 715/222, 715/223, 715/224, 715/225, 715/226
• US Class Current: 715/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/167 using a common memory, e.g. mailbox
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

In the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, every time a user submits a form the client software tries to match the submitted information with the stored profile of that user. If a match is discovered, the program tags the field of the recognized data with a corresponding type. The resulting profile can be used after that to help all subsequent users to fill the same form.

Claims

1. A computer system architecture for filling forms, comprising:

a form fill engine for analyzing a context of a plurality of users'"'"' navigation, and completing a form upon users'"'"' consent or user initiated actions, wherein said form fill engine pulls user data and rules to map said data to a requested form, wherein said form includes a plurality of fields having field names, wherein user data is entered into said fields in the form of field values; and

a reverse mapping engine for implementing a reverse mapping algorithm, wherein after said form fill engine recognizes a match, extracted knowledge from said match is communicated to a reverse mapping server for storage into a reverse mapping database, wherein said reverse mapping engine further comprises;

a means for logging field name submissions and field value submissions for each individual user among said plurality of users in a central subscription service database in the form of previously-entered field values and previously-recorded field names;

a means for collecting at least one newly-recorded field name and corresponding newly-entered field value submission for at least one new form that a user from among said plurality of users enters;

a means for comparing newly-entered field values for an individual user with previously-entered field value submissions by the same individual user in said central subscription service database;

a means for determining if a match between said newly-entered field value by said individual user and said previously-entered field value submission of said individual user is found, and if so, considering this as a hit and marking a name of a hit field according to a type of said user'"'"'s data that matches;

a means for repeating the above steps until a threshold confidence level about a real meaning of said fields is reached; and

a means for migrating said form to collection of mapped fields;

wherein said collection of mapped fields is used to help all subsequent users to fill the same form.

2. The computer system architecture of claim 1, further comprising:

a site profile server for providing information about a mapping of a site currently visited by said user from a site profile database and for connecting to a user data server to get a user'"'"'s profile from a user database.

3. The computer system architecture of claim 2, further comprising:

a consensus engine for monitoring statistics of reverse mappings, wherein after passing a predetermined statistical level of consensus said consensus engine decides whether said threshold confidence level has been reached, and triggers migration of a mapping from said reverse mapping database to said collection of mapped fields.

4. A method for reverse auto-profiling in a form fill application, comprising the steps of:

connecting a plurality of users with a server-based reverse-mapping engine in a distributed computing environment;

providing a browser-based user interface for submission of forms, wherein said forms include user data entered into a plurality of fields having field names, wherein the user data is entered in the form of field values;

logging field name submissions and field value submissions for each individual user among said plurality of users in a central subscription service database in the form of previously-entered field values and previously-recorded field names;

collecting at least one newly-recorded field name and corresponding newly-entered field value submission for at least one new form that a user from among said plurality of users enters;

comparing newly-entered field values for an individual user with previously-entered field value submissions by the same individual user in said central subscription service database by said reverse-mapping engine;

determining if a match between said newly-entered field value by said individual user and said previously-entered field value submission of said individual user is found by said reverse-mapping engine, considering this as a hit and marking a name of a hit field according to a type of said user'"'"'s data that matches;

repeating the above steps until a threshold confidence level about a real meaning of said fields is reached; and

thereafter, migrating said form to a collection of mapped fields;

wherein all subsequent users using said same form thereafter receive auto-fill assistance based on matches in said collection of mapped fields.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

for every form automatically filled, observing whether a user introduces corrections after a form fill operation is completed for a particular site;

trying to match corrections with knowledge about user specific data;

if a matched correction is found, considering it a correction-hit;

re-mapping a field that was corrected; and

after a statistically significant number of corrections are introduced, migrating corrections to a profile of said site.

6. A method for filling forms, comprising the steps of:

analyzing a context of a users'"'"' navigation, and completing a form upon users'"'"' consent or user initiated actions, wherein a form fill engine pulls user data and rules to map said data to a requested form; and

implementing a reverse mapping algorithm, wherein after said form fill engine recognizes a match, extracted knowledge from said match is communicated to a reverse mapping server for storage into a reverse mapping database, wherein said reverse mapping algorithm further comprises;

logging field name submissions and field value submissions for each individual user among said plurality of users in a central subscription service database in the form of previously-entered field values and previously-recorded field names;

collecting at least one newly-recorded field name and corresponding newly-entered field value submission for at least one new form that a user from among said plurality of users enters;

comparing newly-entered field values for an individual user with previously-entered field value submissions by the same individual user in said central subscription service database;

determining if a match between said newly-entered field value by said individual user and said previously-entered field value submission of said individual user is found, and if so, considering this as a hit and marking a name of a hit field according to a type of said user'"'"'s data that matches;

repeating the above steps until a threshold confidence level about a real meaning of said fields is reached; and

migrating said form to collection of mapped fields;

wherein said collection of mapped fields is used to help all subsequent users to fill the same form.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

providing information about a mapping of a site currently visited by said user from a site profile database and for connecting to a user data server to get a user'"'"'s profile from a user database.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

monitoring statistics of reverse mappings, wherein after passing a predetermined statistical level of consensus said consensus engine decides whether said threshold confidence level has been reached, and triggers migration of a mapping from said reverse mapping database to said collection of mapped fields.

9. A computer system architecture for reverse auto-profiling in a form fill application, comprising:

a module connecting a plurality of users with a server-based reverse-mapping engine in a distributed computing environment;

a module for providing a browser-based user interface for submission of forms, wherein said forms include user data entered into a plurality of fields having field names, wherein the user data is entered in the form of field values;

a module for logging field name submissions and field value submissions for each individual user among said plurality of users in a central subscription service database in the form of previously-entered field values and previously-recorded field names;

a module for collecting at least one newly-recorded field name and corresponding newly-entered field name submission for at least one new form that a user from among said plurality of users has entered;

a module for comparing newly-entered field values for an individual user with previously-entered field value submissions by the same individual user in said central subscription service database by said reverse-mapping engine;

a module for determining if a match between said newly-entered field value by said individual user and said previously-entered field value submission of said individual user is found by said reverse-mapping engine, and considering this as a hit and marking a name of a hit field according to a type of said user'"'"'s data that matches;

a module for generating a threshold confidence level about a real meaning of said fields is reached; and

a module for migrating said form to a collection of mapped fields;

wherein all subsequent users using said same form thereafter receive auto-fill assistance based on matches in said collection of mapped fields.

10. A computer system architecture of claim 9, further, comprising:

a module for observing whether a user introduces corrections after a form fill operation is completed for a particular site for every form automatically filled;

a module for trying to match corrections with knowledge about user specific data, wherein if a matched correction is found, said module considering it a correction-hit;

a module for re-mapping a field that was corrected; and

a module for migrating corrections to a profile of said site after a statistically significant number of corrections are introduced.