Patent Publication Number: US-11386262-B1

Title: Systems and methods for a knowledge-based form creation platform

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/139,575, filed on Apr. 27, 2016 and entitled “Systems and Methods for A Knowledge-based Form Creation Platform,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     In general, this disclosure relates to electronic form creation, in particular, to systems and methods for knowledge-based form creation. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Electronic forms such as a questionnaire, interactive quiz, or survey forms are widely used for a variety of purposes, such as user feedback collection, registration and enrollment, and/or computer-based examinations. To create an electronic form, a form creator such as an Internet user, can use a form creator software application to design questions in the form. The form creator usually needs to manually type in a question, and then manually specify a type of the question in order to design a corresponding answer field of a certain format for the respective question. 
     Thus, using existing form creation software, the form creator needs to repetitively set up the answer field for each question, which largely slows down the process of creating a form. 
     SUMMARY 
     Systems and methods disclosed herein provide a knowledge-based form creation platform. A form creation component may be initiated at a computing device to present a form creation user interface to a user. Content of a question can be received via a user interface from a user, from which a key term may be obtained. Information relating to the key term may be retrieved from a knowledge database, and the information may indicate an answer field format associated with the question. An answer field for the question may be automatically generated based on the answer field format. 
     In some implementations, the form creation component is a browser-based application. 
     In some implementations, the form creation component may determine a type of the question based on the key term, and retrieve an answer field format associated with the type of the question. 
     In some implementations, the answer field format includes any of a text field, a checkbox, or a drop-down option menu. 
     In some implementations, the knowledge database includes any of a local database or a remote cloud-based database. 
     In some implementations, the information includes a plurality of answer options related to the question. 
     In some implementations, the information includes a suggested answer related to the question. 
     In some implementations, the knowledge database stores a knowledge graph. 
     In some implementations, the answer field is generated at least in part based on an association with another previously created answer field. 
     In some implementations, the form creation component may receive an indication of user approval or disapproval in response to the automatically generated answer field, generate heuristics data indicative of the user&#39;s preference based on the user approval or disapproval decision, and optionally revise the automatically generated answer field based on the heuristics data. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other features of the present disclosure, including its nature and its various advantages, will be more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an example block diagram of a computerized system  100  illustrating data flow interaction between various entities for a knowledge-based form creation platform. 
         FIGS. 2A-2B  provide an example logic flow diagrams illustrating example work flows for automatic form creation based on knowledge data. 
         FIG. 3  provides a user interface (UI) diagram illustrating example UIs of the knowledge-based form creation as described in  FIGS. 2A-2B . 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer system  400  with which the system for a knowledge-based form creation and use of  FIGS. 1-3  can be implemented. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     To provide an overall understanding of the systems and methods described herein, certain embodiments will now be described, including a system and method for managing suggested edits in an editing environment. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the systems and methods described herein may be adapted and modified as is appropriate for the application being addressed and that the systems and methods described herein may be employed in other suitable applications, and that such other additions and modifications will not depart from the scope thereof. Generally, the computerized systems described herein may comprise one or more engines, which include a processing device or devices, such as a computer, microprocessor, logic device or other device or processor that is configured with hardware, firmware, and software to carry out one or more of the computerized methods described herein. 
     Systems and methods described herein may be used to enhance form creation over existing systems. Existing tools require a user to enter a form question and define an answer and answer type. For example, when the form creator wants to design a question to obtain the respondent&#39;s email address, the form creator may type in the questions that the respondent will see “what is your email address?” Using existing form creation tools, the form creator usually manually specifies the type of the question, i.e., a short text question, and selects a blank text field as the answer field for the question. In another example, when the form creator wants to design a question such as “What day is best for you?”, in addition to typing in the question, the form creator can specify the question type as a question of multiple choice of seven. The form creator can then specify the seven options to the question, i.e., Sunday to Saturday. 
     The systems and methods described herein provide an automatic form creation component that uses data analytics from a knowledge database. The automatic form creation may reduce manual steps needed from a form creator (e.g., the user) and provide a more efficient user experience for form creation. 
     For instance, in the respective example of the user specified form question “what is your email address?,” the form creation component may identify a key term such as “email address,” and may then automatically determine an answer field related to the key term, e.g., a text field. In addition, the form creation component can add a validation sign “@” for the answer field such that the respondent can see an answer field in a format like “_@ —————— ” In the other example of the question “What day is best for you?”, the form creation component may identify the key term “day” and “best,” based on which the form creation component may automatically choose a multiple choice answer and populate a list of seven options Monday to Sunday for the respondent to select from. In this way, the form creation component may analyze and extract key terms from the question, and may then create an answer field with options or suggested answers based on analytics from a knowledge database. 
       FIG. 1  is an example block diagram of a computerized system  100  illustrating data flow interaction between various entities for a knowledge-based form creation platform. A form creator (e.g., a user of the system)  101 , the user device(s)  102  of the form creator, a remote knowledge cloud server  110 , a respondent device  120 , a respondent of the created form  130 , and/or other entities may interact with a communication network. The communication network may include any of a cellular network, a cable network, wireless local area network (LAN), near-field connections, Bluetooth network, and/or the like. The user device  102  or respondent device  120  may each include a variety of devices such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a Smartphone, a smart wearable device, and/or the like. 
     A form creator  101  may submit a question by typing the text for the question  111  to the user device  102 , which may in turn query (e.g.,  112 ) a local database for locally stored knowledge relating to the question. The knowledge may include a knowledge graph with information relating to the user such as the user&#39;s profile information, interests, and/or the like, personal knowledge based on the user&#39;s web history, email, calendar events, location, location contacts and/or the like. The knowledge may further include association between previously created questions, previous approval or disapproval from the user relating to a similar question creation, and/or the like. The knowledge may also comprise information relating to user reviews, ratings to products or events, public event calendars, historical information of user web activities, social media activities, and/or the like of a large set of Internet users, or from a public remote storage server(s). The knowledge may be used to generate a format relating to the question, answer options or a suggested answer to the question and/or the like. The user of knowledge to generate answer fields is further discussed in  FIG. 2A-B . 
     The user device  102  may also optionally send a query  113  for knowledge to a remote knowledge cloud server  110 , which may in turn return related personal knowledge  114  to the user device. Related knowledge  114  may include but is not limited to browsing history, social media posting history, data analytics from various data sources, and/or the like. 
     The created form  115  from the user device  102  may be directly or indirectly provided to a respondent  130  via the respondent device  120 . The respondent answer to the question  116  may be optionally stored at the knowledge cloud  110 , which may be used to generate heuristics data for creation. For example, the respondent&#39;s answer to a question may be used to generate suggested answers to a similar question. 
       FIG. 2A-2B  provide example logic flow diagrams illustrating example work flows for automatic form creation based on knowledge data. Starting at  201 , the form creator may initiate a form creation component, e.g., a browser-based application, or a mobile application at a computing device such as a desktop computer, a workstation, a mobile device, and/or the like. A form creation page may be presented to a user (e.g., the form creator) at  202 , and then a question may be entered into the form creation component by the user typing in the question text at  203 . The form creation component may analyze the question text to obtain a key term from the text of the question  204 . For example, a key term such as “name,” “email address,” “favorite,” etc., may be used by the form creation component to determine an answer field format at  206 . The form creation component may determine a type of the question e.g., by querying a database at  205 . For example, when the question contains the key term “name,” a relevant answer field format may be a plain text field. Or when the question contains the key term “date of birth,” a relevant answer field may include a formatted field such as “_/_/_ (mm/dd/yy)” or other date related format. Or alternatively, when the question contains the key term “date of birth,” the question type may be related to an answer field that includes a drop-down list such that the respondent can select the month, date and year. 
     At  207 , the form creation application may also obtain further information from a knowledge cloud based on the key term, and then populate the related information as option items or suggested answers in the answer field at  208 . For example, when the question contains key terms such as “favorite,” “movie,” the form creation application may obtain a list of movie names from a knowledge graph in the cloud and display the movie names as multiple choice options. For another example, when the question contains key terms such as “favorite,” “election,” the form creator&#39;s location may be used to query in cloud what election is associated with the location at the time, and a list of candidates can be generated as multiple choice options. In another example, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the respondent&#39;s answer to the question (e.g.,  116 ) may be sent to the knowledge cloud and may be used for multiple choice options. For example, for a question “when was the Bastille prison in Paris occupied?”, incorrect answers (e.g.,  1890 ,  1832 ,  1833 , etc.) that are previously submitted by various respondents can be used as multiple choice options. 
     At  209 , an answer field (with multiple choice options or suggested answers in a text field, etc.) may be automatically created, without manually specifying an answer field format or manually typing in multiple choice option or suggested answers. However, if the form creator would like to manually change the automatically generated answer field, the form creator can approve or disapprove the automatically generated field. Such approval or disapproval decision message may be received by the form creation application at  210 , which may generate heuristics data indicative of a user&#39;s preference in form creation at  211 . The heuristics data may be stored locally or in a remote knowledge cloud to revise the answer field creation rules at  212 . 
     The user approval or disapproval of automatically created form question and answer fields discussed in connection with steps  209 - 212  in  FIG. 2B  can be illustrated in the UI diagram in  FIG. 3 . For example, when the question contains key terms such as “date of birth,” (e.g., see  301 ), an automatic answer including a drop-down list  302  to allow a respondent to select the month, date and year can be created. The form creator can select an “edit” button  303  to disapprove and change the automatically created answer field. If, the form creator manually selects an answer field at  305  that includes a formatted text field such as “_/_/_ (mm/dd/yyyy)”  306 , the form creation application may generate a heuristics rule based on the user&#39;s preference to use such a formatted text field for questions relating to a date. Then, for the same form, or for a subsequent form, when the form creator submits another question such as “when is your start date at the current employer?” the form creation application may automatically create a formatted text field as the form creator previously selected, such as “_/_/_ (mm/dd/yyyy),” instead of a drop-down list. 
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer system  400  with which the system for a knowledge-based form creation and use of  FIGS. 1-3  can be implemented. In certain aspects, the computer system  400  may be implemented using hardware or a combination of software and hardware, either in a dedicated server, or integrated into another entity, or distributed across multiple entities. 
     Computer system  400  includes a bus  408  or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor  402  coupled with bus  408  for processing information. By way of example, the computer system  400  may be implemented with one or more processors  402 . 
     Computer system  400  can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates an execution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or a combination of one or more of them stored in an included memory  404 , such as a Random Access Memory (RAM), a flash memory, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD, or any other suitable storage device, coupled to bus  408  for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor  402 . The processor  402  and the memory  404  can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, logic circuitry. 
     The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software on a server, client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such computer and/or networking hardware. The software program may be associated with a server that may include a file server, print server, domain server, internet server, intranet server and other variants such as secondary server, host server, distributed server and the like. The server may include one or more of memories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the server. In addition, other devices required for execution of methods as described in this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructure associated with the server. 
     The server may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, print servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of programs across the network. The networking of some or all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more location without deviating from the scope of the disclosed subject matter. In addition, any of the devices attached to the server through an interface may include at least one storage medium capable of storing methods, programs, code and/or instructions. A central repository may provide program instructions to be executed on different devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may act as a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs. 
     The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routing devices and other active and passive devices, modules and/or components as known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s) associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of the network infrastructural elements. 
     The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions may be stored and/or accessed on machine readable media that may include: computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time; semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM); mass storage typically for more permanent storage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cache memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such as CD, DVD; removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys), floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAM disks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like; other computer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read/write storage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, network attached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and the like. 
     The elements described and depicted herein, including m flow charts and block diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through computer executable media having a processor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any combination of these, and all such implementations may be within the scope of the present disclosure. 
     Thus, while the foregoing drawings and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems, no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various techniques identified and described above may be varied, and that the order of techniques may be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various techniques should not be understood to require a particular order of execution for those techniques, unless required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. 
     The methods and/or processes described above, and techniques thereof, may be realized in hardware, or any combination of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The hardware may include a general purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect or component of a specific computing device. The processes may be realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable device, along with internal and/or external memory. The processes may also, or instead, be embodied in an application-specific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array logic, or any other device or combination of devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that one or more of the processes may be realized as a computer executable code capable of being executed on a machine readable medium. 
     The instructions may be stored in the memory  404  and implemented in one or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a computer readable medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, the service, and according to any method well known to those of skill in the art, including, but not limited to, computer languages such as data-oriented languages (e.g., SQL, dBase), system languages (e.g., C, Objective-C, C++, Assembly), architectural languages (e.g., Java, .NET), and application languages (e.g., PHP, Ruby, Perl, Python). 
     A computer program as discussed herein does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules, subprograms, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. The processes and logic flows described in this specification can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output. 
     Computer system  400  further includes a data storage device  406  such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, coupled to bus  408  for storing information and instructions. Computer system  400  may be coupled via an input/output module  410  to various devices. The input/output module  410  can be any input/output module. Example input/output modules  410  include data ports such as USB ports. The input/output module  410  is configured to connect to a communications module  412 . Example communications modules  412  include networking interface cards, such as Ethernet cards and modems. In certain aspects, the input/output module  410  is configured to connect to a plurality of devices, such as an input device  414  and/or an output device  416 . Example input devices  414  include a keyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by which a user can provide input to the computer system  400 . Other kinds of input devices  414  can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well, such as a tactile input device, visual input device, audio input device, or brain-computer interface device. For example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, tactile, or brain wave input. Example output devices  416  include display devices, such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user. 
     According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the system for knowledge-based form creation as shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , can be implemented using a computer system  400  in response to processor  402  executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in memory  404 . Such instructions may be read into memory  404  from another machine-readable medium, such as data storage device  406 . Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory  404  causes processor  402  to perform the processes described herein. One or more processors in a multi-processing arrangement may also be employed to execute the sequences of instructions contained in memory  404 . In alternative aspects, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement various aspects of the present disclosure. Thus, aspects of the present disclosure are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software. 
     Various aspects of the subject matter described in this specification can be implemented in a computing system that includes a back end component, e.g., as a data server, or that includes a middleware component, e.g., an application server, or that includes a front end component, e.g., a client computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with an implementation of the subject matter described in this specification, or any combination of one or more such back end, middleware, or front end components. The components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication, e.g., a communication network. The communication network can include, for example, any one or more of a personal area network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a campus area network (CAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a broadband network (BBN), the Internet, and the like. Further, the communication networks can include, but are not limited to, for example, any one or more of the following network topologies, including a bus network, a star network, a ring network, a mesh network, a star-bus network, tree or hierarchical network, or the like. The communications modules can be, for example, modems or Ethernet cards. 
     As discussed above, computing system  400  can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. Computer system  400  can be, for example, and without limitation, an enterprise server or group of servers, one or more desktop computers, one or more laptop computers, etc. Computer system  400  can also be embedded in another device, for example, and without limitation, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile audio player, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, a video game console, and/or a television set top box. 
     The term “machine-readable storage medium” or “computer readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium or media that participates in providing instructions to processor  402  for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as data storage device  406 . Volatile media include dynamic memory, such as memory  404 . Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus  408 . Common forms of machine-readable media include, for example, floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read. The machine-readable storage medium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter effecting a machine-readable propagated signal, or a combination of one or more of them. 
     While this specification contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of particular implementations of the subject matter. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate implementations can also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single implementation can also be implemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination. 
     While operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the aspects described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all aspects, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products. 
     The subject matter of this specification has been described in terms of particular aspects, but other aspects can be implemented and are within the scope of the following claims. For example, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results. As one example, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Other variations are within the scope of the following claims