Centralized, automatic reporting system and method from interface technologies

Abstract

One or more parameters such as time is reported to a center using a portable access device. The center then automatically receives data from the access device and populates an electronic form and converts the data for storage and subsequent processing or review. The invention allows other parties, upon proper authentication, to annotate received data, to indicate acceptance or rejection of the reported data. Depending on the relationship of the various parties and business rules stored with the center, parties other than the sender and center may also download reported data for subsequent processing, even where they have different hardware and software platforms. The invention is particularly suitable for senders such as employees who need to submit time sheets, expense reports, and the like to an employer, or for automatic analysis of submitted inventory reports, product orders, etc. In one embodiment, the center acts as an automatic data collecting and reporting intermediary between the sender and an employment agency, on one hand, and between the agency and a client, on the other hand, where the sender is associated with the agency but performs tasks on behalf of the client.

1 . A center system method for collecting reports of at least one parameter, including one or more processors and memories, comprising the following steps:
 automatically, that is, independent of any required human intervention, receiving from any of a plurality of senders, via a portable access device, sender-specific data, said data having been read at a remote site from a reader that can access the center system;   a Sender ID & Association software module in the center system comprising computer-executable code for sensing the arrival of sender-specific data, for entering first automatically extractable data onto an instance of a sender-specific form, and for generating a command to produce the sender-specific form into a transmittable electronic form;   a Form ID software module in the center system thereupon generating a sender-specific identifier uniquely identifying the instance of the sender-specific data, and augmenting the instance of the said sender-specific form with the said sender-specific data identifier;   automatically storing the said sender-specific data values in a predetermined format in a memory for subsequent processing.   
     
     
         2 . A method as in  claim 1 , in which the central system includes
 a form-processing software module within the center system and comprising computer-executable code for storing an association of the sender-specific data identifier with the instance of the sender-specific form, for receiving the augmented instance of the sender-specific data form after handling by other parties, for comparing the sender-specific data identifier of the received form against the association, and for automatically routing an image of the received sender-specific form to a destination indicated by third party rules.   
     
     
         3 . A method as in  claim 1  in which the reporting media include telephone dial-in, in which the user follows recorded instructions and makes data entries by pressing the keys of the telephone. 
     
     
         4 . A method as in  claim 1  in which the reporting media include wireless telephone-to-network interface technologies. 
     
     
         5 . A method as in  claim 1  in which the reporting media include devices that have storage capacity. 
     
     
         6 . A method as in  claim 1  in which the reporting media include devices that have on-board processing power. 
     
     
         7 . A method as in  claim 1 , further including the step of automatically transferring the stored extracted values to an external recipient via a network 
     
     
         8 . A method as in  claim 1 , further comprising the following steps:
 receiving, from the third party, a confirmation or rejection indication relating to at least a portion of the extracted, stored report data; and   upon receipt of the rejection indication, directing the sender to resubmit a corrected report.   
     
     
         9 . A system as in  claim 1 , for at least one third party, storing a set of party-specific rules in the memory;
 associating the received sender-specific data with the corresponding third party;   and converting the sender-specific data into a format specified by the rules associated with that third party, whereby third parties operating different hardware platforms and processing software may receive and process extracted report data from the same memory within the central computer system; and   transferring a copy of the received sender-specific data to the third party via the network, whereby the transferred data resides at and is available for processing by the third party.   
     
     
         10 . A system as in  claim 1 , storing a set of party-specific rules in the memory;
 receiving access requests via a publicly accessible transmission network, for portions of the sender specific data defined according to the respective party-specific rules, and responding to the access requests by returning the requested report data automatically, that is, independent of any required human intervention, completing any requests for interactive and iterative review, modification or annotation, inclusive, of the report data according to each party's respective party-specific rules, whereby the central computer system is an intermediary system between the sender on the one hand and other parties on the other hand and exposes different interfaces to the sender and other parties based on their roles.   
     
     
         11 . A system as in  claim 1 , in which the coordinating system is a web service. 
     
     
         12 . A method as in  claim 2 , further comprising:
 associating at least two different physical forms with different senders; and   automatically determining the identity of each sender based on the received image of the physical form   
     
     
         13 . A system as in  claim 2 , for at least one third party, storing a set of party-specific rules in the memory;
 associating the received sender-specific report with the corresponding third party;   associating the received sender-specific report with the corresponding third party;   and converting the sender-specific data into a format specified by the rules associated with that third party, whereby third parties operating different hardware platforms and processing software may receive and process extracted report data from the same memory within the central computer system; and   transferring a copy of the received sender-specific data to the third party via the network, whereby the transferred data resides at and is available for processing by the third party.   
     
     
         14 . A method as in  claim 2 , further including the step of storing recipient-entered annotations in the memory along with the original image of the sender-specific form. 
     
     
         15 . A system as in  claim 2 , in which the form processing software modules include an annotation module for receiving and storing recipient-entered annotations in the memory along with the original data values of the respective received form. 
     
     
         16 . A method as in  claim 2 , further comprising the following steps:
 storing an image of the report; and via the network,   allowing access by the third party to the image, whereby the third party is able to confirm the accuracy of the sender-specific report data.   
     
     
         17 . A system as in  claim 2 , in which the coordinating system is a web service. 
     
     
         18 . A system as in  claim 2 , in which the sender-specific form includes at least one handwritten comment field, the computer system further including computer-executable code for associating the handwritten comment field with a corresponding sender-specific report item. 
     
     
         19 . A system as in  claim 2 , in which the computer-executable code is further provided for automatically extracting the handwritten comment field as a sub-image and then converting the sub-image into a displayable format. 
     
     
         20 . A system as in  claim 2 , in which the form processing software module includes a format conversion module comprising computer-executable code for automatically converting sender-specific data into any of a plurality of predetermined formats for transmission of the sender-specific data to a recipient in the format that is associated with that recipient.