SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USER INTERFACES THAT PROVIDE ENHANCED VERIFICATION OF EXTRACTED DATA
A computer software that provides the user with the means to import an image of a paper financial document for data extraction. The extracted data automatically populates a financial datasheet and can be synchronized with a company financial record being kept on an external accounting software. The present invention provides the user with the convenience of automatic data input and eliminates the traditional method of individually inputting financial transactions into the accounting software.
The current application is a Continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/158,310 (published as U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2012/0203676), titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USER INTERFACES THAT PROVIDE ENHANCED VERIFICATION OF EXTRACTED DATA,” filed on Jun. 10, 2011, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/351,579, filed on Jun. 10, 2010, and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/439,774, filed on Feb. 4, 2011, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates generally to a software application for the processing and record keeping of paper financial documents. More specifically, the present invention provides users with the ability to scan financial and automatically recognize financial transaction data on the paper financial documents for the synchronization with their accounting software.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONBookkeeping is defined as the recording of financial transactions. Depending on the structure of a corporation, U.S. tax laws exist that require individuals and business owners to provide proof of financial transactions when requested. A strong accounting system and accurate bookkeeping is necessary for business entities to avoid tax-related penalties.
Due to the complexity of the bookkeeping process required for maintaining a strong accounting system, skilled professionals such as a bookkeeper or accountant are often hired to fulfill this role for a business entity. With the gradual sophistication of accounting software available, computerized bookkeeping has become the industry standard. A number of accounting software programs exist to fulfill the needs of a corporation, with the more sophisticated software programs addressing larger corporations. Regardless of the sophistication level of the software however, users of these software solutions are still required to manually enter financial transaction data. Financial transactions fall into the categories of income statement accounts (i.e., income accounts, expense accounts) and balance sheet accounts (i.e., Accounts Receivable and assets, Accounts Payable and liabilities, equity). The combination of income statement accounts and balance sheet accounts comprise the complete record keeping of financial activity inflow and outflow for a business entity. For each financial transaction to be recorded correctly there is a minimum amount of data fields that are required, and many software programs have taken this into consideration. This minimum is thus reflectively defined depending on the particular accounting software used.
The bookkeeping process involves recognition of the type of document, which include physical documents that vary in paper size, data density, and data location as well as electronic versions of these documents. Once the type of document and therefore the corresponding financial transaction types for that document are identified, a single or multiple financial transactions can be correctly posted. Each financial transaction has a set number of different data fields that need to be entered. For example, an invoice that a business would send to a customer requires a date of the invoice, an amount of monetary funds due, the name of the paying customer, and the account code that matches the type of income the business is receiving. The data fields fall in two categories, those that are a direct transcription from the financial document, such as amounts, dates, names, and those that are supplemented by a bookkeeper, such as account codes, memo fields, references numbers, and breakdown between principal and interest, taxable and nontaxable amounts, and other such categorization. Complete data entry of financial transactions involves more than directly transcribing any relevant financial transaction data from the corresponding financial document. However, much of the manual data entry that is done by the bookkeeper can be automated by software.
All illustrations of the drawings are for the purpose of describing selected versions of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
The bookkeeping process of the present invention for posting a financial transaction in an accounting software program involves posting the transaction type and posting the relevant transaction details. The minimum amount of relevant transaction details are predefined depending on the choice of the accounting software. However, if the user is not using external accounting software, then the minimum requirement of relevant transaction details do not apply. In reference to
The software of the present invention provides the user with the ability to import an image of a paper financial document for automatic extraction of financial transaction data. In reference to
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The present invention additionally provides the user with the means to split all of the financial transactions into two separate financial datasheets that are categorized depending on the types of financial transactions. As shown in
In some cases, users do not make use of external accounting software, but make use of simple customizable spreadsheets to keep track of their financial records. The present invention provides the user with the means to export the financial datasheet to an external data file. The external data file is a tabular data file such as .CSV, text, .xls, or any other suitable tabular data file.
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Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
Claims
1. A method, comprising:
- receiving, by one or more devices, image data that has been generated based on a document that depicts a plurality of numerical values;
- extracting, by the one or more devices, the plurality of numerical values from the image data;
- automatically populating, by the one or more devices, a user interface that includes a plurality of cells with the plurality of extracted numerical values, the populating including placing each numerical value, of the plurality of extracted numerical values, into a particular cell of the financial datasheet;
- concurrently displaying, by the one or more devices, (a) an image that represents the image data and (b) the user interface that includes the plurality of cells that each include a particular numerical value extracted from the image data, wherein displaying the user interface includes using different colors, in different respective cells of the user interface, to indicate different confidence levels of the extracted numerical values included in the respective particular cells;
- receiving, by the one or more devices, a selection of a particular cell, of the plurality of cells included in the user interface; and
- highlighting, by the one or more devices, in response to receiving the selection of the particular cell, and while concurrently displaying the image and the user interface, a particular area of the image, the highlighted particular area being an area from which the particular numerical value, placed in the selected particular cell, was extracted.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of numerical values, extracted from the image data, include at least one numerical value comprising at least two digits.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- exporting the plurality of cells, populated with the plurality of extracted numerical values, to a file.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein exporting the plurality of cells to the file includes exporting the cells to a tabular data file.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a datasheet.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the document includes a paper document that depicts the plurality of numerical values, wherein the image data was generated based on scanning the paper document.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the paper document includes a paper financial statement.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- receiving, out of a plurality of candidate templates, a selection of a particular template associated with the document,
- wherein the extracting is performed based on the selected particular template.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the document depicts a plurality of words or phrases, wherein the extracting further includes extracting the plurality of words or phrases from the image data, the method further comprising:
- further automatically populating the user interface with one or more of the plurality of words or phrases.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of cells are arranged as a table in the user interface, wherein automatically populating the user interface with the one or more of the plurality of words of phrases includes using the one or more of the plurality of words or phrases are headings in the table.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more devices include a computer.
12. A system, comprising:
- one or more devices configured to: receive image data that has been generated based on a scanned paper document that depicts a plurality of numerical values; extract the plurality of numerical values from the image data; automatically populate a user interface that includes a plurality of cells with the plurality of extracted numerical values, the populating including placing each numerical value, of the plurality of extracted numerical values, into a particular cell of the financial datasheet; concurrently display (a) an image that represents the image data and (b) the user interface that includes the plurality of cells that each include a particular numerical value extracted from the image data, wherein displaying the user interface includes using different colors, in different respective cells of the user interface, to indicate different confidence levels of the extracted numerical values included in the respective particular cells; receive a selection of a particular cell, of the plurality of cells included in the user interface; and highlight, in response to receiving the selection of the particular cell, and while concurrently displaying the image and the user interface, a particular area of the image, the highlighted particular area being an area from which the particular numerical value, placed in the selected particular cell, was extracted.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of numerical values, extracted from the image data, include at least one numerical value comprising at least two digits.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more devices are further configured to:
- export the plurality of cells, populated with the plurality of extracted numerical values, to a file.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein exporting the plurality of cells to the file includes exporting the cells to a tabular data file.
16. The system of claim 12, wherein the user interface includes a datasheet.
17. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more devices are further configured to:
- receive, out of a plurality of candidate templates, a selection of a particular template associated with the scanned paper document,
- wherein the extracting is performed based on the selected particular template.
18. The system of claim 12, wherein the scanned paper document depicts a plurality of words or phrases, wherein the extracting further includes extracting the plurality of words or phrases from the image data, wherein the one or more devices are further configured to:
- further automatically populate the user interface with one or more of the plurality of words or phrases.
19. The system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of cells are arranged as a table in the user interface, wherein automatically populating the user interface with the one or more of the plurality of words of phrases includes using the one or more of the plurality of words or phrases are headings in the table.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of computer-executable instructions to:
- receive image data that has been generated based on a scanned paper document that depicts a plurality of numerical values;
- extract the plurality of numerical values from the image data;
- automatically populate a user interface that includes a plurality of cells with the plurality of extracted numerical values, the populating including placing each numerical value, of the plurality of extracted numerical values, into a particular cell of the financial datasheet;
- concurrently display (a) an image that represents the image data and (b) the user interface that includes the plurality of cells that each include a particular numerical value extracted from the image data, wherein displaying the user interface includes using different colors, in different respective cells of the user interface, to indicate different confidence levels of the extracted numerical values included in the respective particular cells;
- receive a selection of a particular cell, of the plurality of cells included in the user interface; and
- highlight, in response to receiving the selection of the particular cell, and while concurrently displaying the image and the user interface, a particular area of the image, the highlighted particular area being an area from which the particular numerical value, placed in the selected particular cell, was extracted.
Type: Application
Filed: May 28, 2020
Publication Date: Sep 10, 2020
Inventor: Benjamin Chou (Fountain Valley, CA)
Application Number: 15/929,910