HK1083659A - System and method for capture, storage and processing of receipts and related data - Google Patents

Description

System and method for collecting, storing and processing receipts and related data

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system and method for collecting, storing and processing receipts and related data.

Background

The present application is entitled to U.S. patent application No. 60/420,471 filed on day 10, 21, 2002 and U.S. patent application No. 60/459,810 filed on day 4, 2, 2003, and is incorporated herein in its entirety.

Most commercial transactions involve the seller issuing a receipt to the buyer. Many times these receipts are lost, damaged or discolored by exposure to light for too long and even thrown away. People often need or desire to have these receipts kept in an acceptable state for different business or personal reasons.

Receipts issuers have attempted to solve some of the problems caused by paper receipts. The receipt may be printed quickly using computer technology to speed up the process of preparing and paying tickets. The receipt can also be directly mailed to the address designated by the traveler, and the traveler does not need to carry the receipt with him or her.

However, these methods only attempt to make the paper receipt more quickly and conveniently available to the traveler and do not address the problems caused by the paper receipt itself.

The merchant world is in need of receipts by the entity or business for reimbursement purposes to the business itself or to another business (customer) who pays for its services and fees. The small business owner needs a receipt to prove to the tax authority that his purchase was made on a business basis and to achieve the reimbursement objectives described above.

The individual needs a receipt as proof of purchase to return the purchased item to the seller for money or other items, if desired, or to enjoy rebates or warranties. Receipts are also desirable to check cash and credit expenses to make budgets.

In almost all institutions, the repayment process is quite time consuming and laborious. Because the original copy of the receipt may be lost, the original copy usually needs to be copied several times. These receipt copies are sent to the hands of various supervisors and, in some cases, to agencies that sponsor services and fees. The process of copying receipts becomes time consuming and difficult due to the varying size of the receipts. After copying the receipts, one would still fill out an exhaustive expense report, pairing each receipt with a specific expense item. In many cases, the receipt originals and expense reports must be physically attached to white paper (taped or stapled) before being sent to the relevant parties.

The business world-side card also has to process electronic receipts from the airline or in some cases the hotel. This typically requires opening an email, printing a receipt, and applying the receipt to white paper. It often takes a considerable amount of time to examine the supervisor of the report to ensure that the expense items in the expense report match the actual receipt.

The small business owner needs a receipt to prove to the tax bureau that the purchase it made on behalf of the business, and for reimbursement purposes. Most small business owners spend a considerable amount of time organizing and preparing business fee accounts for tax purposes. Time constraints and lack of organization have failed to easily prepare business fee accounts for tax. Many small business owners "wait until the last minute" to consolidate and submit accounts, and they must also make detailed expense reports as described above and attach receipts based on the customer's procedures.

It is desirable to save the data to swap purchased items back to the seller when needed. Many times, these receipts are misplaced, lost or damaged and return of the product is difficult. It would also be desirable to be able to save receipts in order to enjoy special rebates or warranties. People are often required to send receipts in the form of their own mail to the manufacturer or sponsor of the promotion to prove purchase. It is also desirable to store receipts to check cash and credit expenses to make budgets.

In addition to the preservation of receipts, one of the most arduous tasks facing merchants is the production and reconciliation of expense reports. People often need fare reports to get reimbursement for traffic or other fares. Expense reports are intended in this specification to include any reports and records used as items for auditing expenses, including records required by the tax authority. Today, even if the reports are done electronically by a computer, each receipt is manually entered into the expense report, and many receipts require entry of multiple expense report items. The expense report is also meant to include a list of receipts.

Some existing systems allow users to scan, organize, and store expense reports in electronic format. The computer system also allows the user to enter an expense report in an electronic mode for reimbursement or tax purposes. However, users of these systems still have to manually enter receipt data into the expense report.

Therefore, there is a need for a system that can scan expense receipts, collect data on expense receipts, and input data into expense reports.

Disclosure of Invention

To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a system including an image collection device, such as a scanner or digital camera connected to a computer processor that can collect and store images, and a method of storing and processing expense receipts using the system. The computer processor analyzes the image of the receipt, converts the image to text, analyzes the text, extracts expense data, and places the data in an expense report. The end user may review, modify or supplement the collected cost data. Preferably, the system displays the image of the receipt and the collected expense data concurrently in parallel for review and modification.

In a preferred embodiment, the image capture device is portable, such as a portable scanner or digital camera, allowing the user to scan and throw away receipts during the journey.

Additionally, in a preferred embodiment, the image is encrypted to prevent unauthorized tampering by a user or third party, thereby maintaining the integrity of the receipt image.

In a preferred embodiment, the receipt image may be uploaded to a remote data storage device via the Internet, intranet, or other network to further protect the image from unauthorized tampering or loss.

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings exemplary embodiments. It should be noted, however, that the present invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the attached drawings.

Drawings

FIG. one is a functional block diagram illustrating an overview of the present invention.

FIG. two is a functional block diagram illustrating a preferred process for a user to operate the present invention.

FIG. three is a detailed example of typical data found on a receipt and the functions of the present invention in analyzing and retrieving the digitized receipt image.

FIG. four is a diagram of a display screen showing a row of receipts and receipt images displayed in parallel, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. five is an image of a row of receipts, receipt images and expense reports simultaneously displayed on a display screen in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. six is a display screen image showing the concurrent and side-by-side display of an expense report and a receipt image in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Concrete practical travel mode

The invention is described in detail below with reference to the figures and specific examples:

FIG. one is a block diagram of the present invention. The process begins with an expense receipt 101, which is typically printed by a merchant at a cash register or other point of sale device. An image of the receipt is electronically created and digitized 103 via an input device 102.

There are many possible receipt image input devices. In one embodiment, the input device is a flatbed scanner connected to a desktop computer. In another embodiment, the input device may be a high-speed scanner for an enterprise that can scan multiple images simultaneously. In another embodiment, the input device is a fax machine, in which case the user is provided with a fax number to which he/she can fax his/her receipt during the journey, i.e. (additionally) store a digitized image of the fax, not necessarily printed on paper. In the preferred embodiment, the input device is portable, such as a digital camera or a portable scanner.

Although not limiting to the invention, the inventors have found that for general sized receipts, it is preferable to use a digital camera with a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch (dpi) or about two million pixels (megapixels), although lower resolutions may be used if image enhancement software is available. The digital camera need not be a stand-alone camera, but is preferably integrated with another device that the user routinely carries, such as a mobile phone, personal digital assistant, or communicator (i.e., a combination of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone).

When a portable input device is used, the device is preferably provided with a display screen to allow the user to review the collected receipt images to ensure that the receipt images are properly collected. The input device may also be a removable memory such as a memory card or a small hard drive. In the preferred embodiment, the portable device is wirelessly connected to a remote tool that stores the images via wireless telephone or wireless Internet access, allowing the images to be downloaded on the journey. In another embodiment, the portable device may be connected to a remote computer for downloading the collected receipt images using a conventional telephone line or internet access line, as is typically used in hotel rooms.

Although the above embodiments use a scanner or digital camera as an input device, the present invention is also intended to include any method of collecting an image of a paper receipt and converting it to an electronic digital format, whether known or later devised.

In the preferred embodiment, the input device also time-stamps the date and time of collection of the receipt image, which is a significant aid in preventing fraud.

The system can process multiple receipts and preferably place different items of the same receipt in different expense reports.

The images are collected and transferred to a computer for processing. The terms "computer," "central processing unit," and "computer processor" in this specification are intended to broadly refer to any computing device capable of processing digital information and employing a microprocessor, and need not be a separate device from the receipt image input device. The computer may be a desktop computer, server, laptop computer, personal digital assistant, communicator, telephone, digital camera, or other computing device, whether known or later devised.

The user can store the expense report by attaching each item to the digitized receipts, or by storing the digitized receipts batch by batch, or by storing them individually to the central processor or to an internet host. The expense report also displays the digitized receipt, which is displayed next to the appropriate expense item, thereby expediting the step of checking whether the expense item is accurate. The user may also print 1, 3 or 6 receipts per page to display the user's previously appended descriptive information.

The user may also attach descriptive information to the receipt itself via a central processor or the internet, or via the input device (e.g., a personal digital assistant). Such as a fee category, a fee amount, a transaction date, a customer sponsorship fee, a seller name, or a seller address. The user may also attach personal descriptive text to each receipt. Any information attached to the receipt is preferably electronically attached to the receipt image.

The present invention preferably includes encrypting the scan receipt image 104. Encryption may be performed by the input device or the computer, but is preferably performed early in the process to avoid tampering with the image. In one embodiment, the software uses a proprietary encryption method and is thereafter displayable only on a compatibility viewer 105. The viewer does not include any modification functionality, thereby preventing the receipt from being altered. Such systems are preferred over other standard formats, such as tagged video format (tiff), video interchange format (giff), or portable file format (pdf), which typically have standard modifiers. Of course, the system may also use other encryption techniques using public or private key codes, whether known or later invented. The above description is not intended to exclude embodiments of the present invention that use the standard archive format without encryption. Moreover, other authentication methods for preventing the original image from being tampered with can be used in the invention, and the invention can be used in any known or later-invented method.

In addition to using encryption to prevent unauthorized tampering, in a preferred embodiment, the image is stored in a compound file that makes it difficult for an attempted counterfeiter to access the image through third party software.

After the computer receives the digital image, the computer's software converts the image data into an alphanumeric string 106. Software programs for recognizing handwriting, such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Image Character Recognition (ICR), are well known in the art and will not be further described herein. The present invention is intended to incorporate all methods of converting images to alphanumeric data, whether known or later devised, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and character recognition are intended to include Image Character Recognition (ICR) and any other similar conversion methods herein.

The process of converting the image into alphanumeric data may also include image enhancement techniques. Such preprocessing may be required to successfully convert the receipt data to alphanumeric data if it appears fuzzy, creased or imperfect, or if the resolution of the input device is low. Various techniques for noise filtering, contrast enhancement, edge filtering and sharpness are well known in the art of optical imaging and will not be described further herein. The present invention is intended to include all such image filtering and preprocessing techniques, whether known or later devised. The inventors have found that libraries available on the market, such as Scansoft, Abby Fine Reader and transmy OCR, help in the process of filtering and converting the images into text. These packages include programs that automatically crop, remove speckle, and correct for offset, which the inventors have found useful in practicing the present invention.

In a preferred embodiment, the Optical Character Recognition (OCR)/Image Character Recognition (ICR) process also retains some spatial data about the location of the text on the receipt, possibly facilitating the next step of analyzing alphanumeric text for expense receipt data.

The next step is analysis 107, 110, which includes analyzing the alphanumeric characters for meaningful items and values. The analysis identifies certain text as the date and amount of the receipt and also looks for the name of the seller. If there are multiple charges on the receipt, in the preferred embodiment, the analysis software resolves the different amounts on the receipt and identifies the charge corresponding to the amount. Thus, for example on a hotel bill, the analysis software can either identify the room charges, meals, phone calls and charges for movies, respectively. Although this is not a requirement of the present invention, it is useful to separately identify the receipts on many receipts that must subdivide the charges. For example, movie charges may not be reimbursed, or liquor charges at restaurant may not be paid for tax deductions.

Since most receipts record similar data, the software utilizes a common set of items and retrieves them in the receipt text 110. For example, the software searches within the receipt text for items such as "amount", "total amount", and/or "amount due". It also retrieves some known date format. The software also utilizes a static and non-static database of commonly used vendors to facilitate documentation of the expense description categories within the expense report 109. For example, if the receipt carries "mcdonald's", the software can distinguish "mcdonald's" as a restaurant and automatically pick "meal" from the expense description category of the expense report. The database may be updated by a system provider or business sponsor via a convenient update medium such as compact disc, file transfer protocol (ftp) download or the internet. The static and non-static databases may be a single database.

FIG. three is a typical receipt and expense data that can be extracted therefrom to form an expense item.

When the software finds the item in the receipt text, the corresponding amount or other relevant data (date, place, etc.) is extracted and placed in the appropriate expense report item category 111. The receipt data extracted from the image is referred to as "fee data" in this specification. After the receipt is linked to an expense item in the expense report, the software can identify the structure of the receipt, and when the system scans the next receipt belonging to the same seller, the software can identify the data structure and properly distribute the data within the expense report.

In a preferred embodiment, the software identifies the receipt structure for the given vendor, which may utilize commercially available formatting software or record the data structure upon first analyzing the data and/or user modification.

The expense report is created 112 by concatenating each expense item with an appropriate expense report. To facilitate this process, the software utilizes a number of different rules to organize the fare report ordering. For example, because commercial trips are often regular and fixed, the software orders the cost items according to the location in the commercial trip. Dining in the user's residence occurs only at the beginning or end of the journey; in contrast, dining in another city tends to occur in the middle of the journey.

The user can modify, store and manage the expense report from a central processor, personal digital assistant or the internet. The data may also be entered into other common fee software, such as Quicken and MS Money 113 or other financial packages, and customized to fit a given enterprise system 117. The user may also add an expense item without an associated receipt.

The second diagram is a flow chart similar to the first diagram, but from the user's point of view. The flow chart is readily understood based on the above description of the first figure and will not be described further herein.

The cost data may be displayed in several ways. In one embodiment, all scanned receipts are listed and ordered in different items. Preferably, the receipt columns are subdivided into different folders. As shown in FIG. four, a receipt bar 12 is displayed to the right of the display, the receipt bar 12 is scrolled through by the user, and the receipt image 10 associated with the highlighted item 14 is displayed to the left of the display. If a new receipt is scanned, an image is displayed in the left pane 10 and a new item and its corresponding cost data are filled into the right pane 12. The user can easily correct the data for each received data or input the missing data.

Figure five shows in detail another display of the software of the invention. In the preferred embodiment, the receipt line is displayed in an upper right box 12 and a designated expense report is displayed in a lower right box 16. The user need only select a receipt from the list 12 and mouse-move the receipt into the expense report 16 (or cut and paste, tick or other identification method) or enter additional items without a receipt into the expense report. The expense report 16 may be stored upon completion and another expense report may be added. Similarly, when an item is selected from the receipt column 12 or the expense report 16, the corresponding receipt image 10 is displayed in the upper left pane.

Figure six shows another mode of operation of the system. In this display screen, the user views the expense report 16 in the right pane. Each item is scanned and associated with an established expense report, the receipt image 10 is displayed to the left, and the expense data associated with that image is displayed directly as a new item 14 in the expense report 16.

The software and displays described in the above three paragraphs are only for illustrating an exemplary embodiment and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

Receipts can be manually linked to a specified expense report or automatically linked to an expense report by the software. For example, the software may be configured to place all of the expense receipts associated with the same user's date in the same expense report, and the user may locate receipts from an expense report and view the receipts that the user has associated with the expense report. As mentioned above, in the preferred embodiment, the expense report and the receipt are simultaneously displayed on the user's display terminal so that the user can review the expense report, the user can also correct and modify the expense report and/or associate a receipt with another expense report. If the analysis program fails to resolve certain data, it may be emphasized or not displayed directly in the expense report. The analysis process has the opportunity to make mistakes, such as placing a charge in the wrong charge category, and the user can modify the charge report storing this data. Preferably, the display software is such that the user can click on a fee and the contact fee report is automatically displayed.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the software can correctly rotate the image of the receipt so that the receipt is displayed in the correct orientation (i.e., not upside down or sideways) regardless of the orientation in which it was scanned. A simple algorithm is that the software only needs to rotate the collection data so that its long edge is placed from top to bottom. In practice, if the width of the scanned image is longer than the height, the image may be rotated by 90 °. A more complex but accurate algorithm is that it can resolve the correct direction of the receipt with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) data.

Additional data may also be appended to the expense report electronically, for example, a credit card transaction may be downloaded to the expense report, a user may not necessarily need to retain a receipt paper entity for such a transaction, or the credit card transaction may cross-check the expense on the receipt in the expense report. Other electronic payment methods such as debit cards can be handled in a similar manner, and the user can also be supplemented with additional fees without receipts such as miles and tip fees.

The process of the user checking the report can be performed centrally if there is sufficient computing power and a display screen. Today, it is relatively simple to use a laptop computer connected to the input device, and the software for analyzing the image and ranking the expense reports can be installed in the laptop computer, so that the expense reports can also be collated by the user on board the aircraft or in a hotel room. As the computing power and display resolution of portable devices increase, the entire process may be performed by a portable device, and when the user has completed the reconciliation of the expense reports, the images and the reconciled expense reports (both wireless and wired) may be uploaded from the portable device.

Alternatively, in a networked system, the user may upload the scanned image to an internet page and access the image and expense report via a browser or proprietary software application, which reduces the amount of storage and computer power required by the user terminal's computer and reduces the chance of unauthorized tampering.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the system checks if there are any receipts that are repeated due to mistakes or fraud, which can be done by simple algorithms, such as searching for receipts that are of the same amount in the same seller during the day.

More complex algorithms can compare images, but this has certain difficulties since scanning the same receipt in different directions can result in different images. However, there are known techniques for comparing the similarity of images in the prior art of image recognition, and the present invention is intended to include such prior or future techniques.

The present invention may also include a fee rule checking mode to apply rules to the fee items. For example, if the amount payable daily for traffic has an upper limit, the software may check that the input receipt does not exceed that amount.

With respect to the step of analyzing the textual data, the software retrieves keywords and/or structures from the alphanumeric textual data extracted from the digitized receipt image. For example, most receipts use a similar date structure, the software can recognize a given sequence of numbers as dates, and such keywords can also be called tokens.

Upon recognition by the software, data is extracted from the digitized receipt and distributed to the appropriate expense item categories.

In a preferred embodiment, the software identifies the structure of the receipt when it is first scanned into the system, and the software identifies the unique structure of the receipt when it is scanned into the system and data is associated with the receipt by an expense item.

Preferably, the keyword/token database is updatable (i.e., a non-static database) by the vendor, user, or software. If the analysis software fails to locate the seller of a receipt, but the user enters the seller name, such as "ACME CO.", then "ACME CO." is added to the database. Assuming that the user also has an expense category, such as "Road Runner extension," to fill in the receipt, the database can associate the seller name with the expense category, and the software can identify the seller name, extract and fill in the expense data the next time the expense receipt for "ACME CO. "seller: ACME co, category: road Runner evaluation ". The software may also use a set of specified rules to prompt the user to enter additional data. The software may identify that a certain expense item requires additional data and enter into the appropriate item of the expense report.

In one embodiment, the user can write a number or text somewhere on the receipt paper by himself to prompt the software to automatically fill in the designated expense item category in the expense report when the receipt is scanned. Also, the user can self-circle certain items on the receipt entity, such as date, amount, location, etc., to prompt the software to pay special attention to that portion, which allows the software to cull irrelevant items and prevents the analysis and retrieval functions from being confused.

Table one shows an exemplary set of analysis rules. This set of analysis rules is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but is merely intended to demonstrate one embodiment of the invention that the inventors have discovered is useful in the present invention. This set of rules uses color and does not mean that color scanning is necessary, and the invention can also be used with gray scale or black and white imaging.

Table one exemplary analysis rule

Date

1. If the receipt is yellow, a date identifier character string is searched within one third of the top of the file, and the data arranged behind the character string is the date of the receipt. To date, the only date identifier seen with yellow receipts is "date".

2. If the receipt is yellow and the date identifier cannot be found, searching the upper half part of the receipt, and searching the following character strings in the date format according to the sequence:

month/day/year (looking for a string of two words/character)

Month, day, year (looking for abbreviated month)

Month, day, year, month, day,

the month, day and day of the year,

year after year (looking for full write month)

3. If the receipt is yellow and the date cannot be identified according to the format, then it can be looked for from behind from the time that usually follows the date and can be retrieved from behind according to the following format to identify the time. Thus, a temporal identifier string or date may be encountered. Continuing to move forward when the identifier string is encountered, the next text item may be the date.

Time format sorted by frequency:

the hour is divided into the afternoon, the hour is divided into the seconds, the hour is divided into the minutes and the seconds afternoon, and the hour is divided into the minutes and the seconds

Temporal identifier string (only one found): time of day

4. If the receipt is white, a date identifier string is found one quarter of the way from the top of the receipt, and if found, the following text should be recorded as the date, but the inventors expect this approach to be generally unsuccessful because the most common date identifier string for white receipts is "date".

5. If the date identifier character string cannot be found, the date format of day/month/year is searched in the whole receipt, which is the most common date format of white receipts, the character string composed of two characters is mainly used for identification, and some receipts delete 0 at the beginning.

6. The time data for a white receipt usually follows the date data and a second method of finding the date would be to search forward from the time-stamped print. In many cases, the data before the time stamp printing may be recorded as a date. Time format sorted by frequency:

the hour is divided into the afternoon, the hour is divided into the seconds and the hour is divided into the afternoon

7. If the date cannot be found according to the date/month/year format or time, the data in the following format is searched: month, day, year, month, day, year, month, day, year, month, day, year, month, day, year

Seller

To date there is no very reliable way to identify vendor data on the receipt, and the following two rules may not be valid, but may also provide useful data.

1. The vendor name may be recorded as the first alphabetic string of the receipt, but this is not reliable.

2. Since vendor data typically includes an address, a five digit number (zip code) following the state minute abbreviation may be found and the text preceding it recorded as vendor data. We either encounter names of cities, streets and sellers, and therefore care should be taken to include the first six individual strings.

Total of

Tip or non-tip structure

1. First attempt to classify receipts into a tip structure or a non-tip structure by looking for positive evidence of a tip identifier, i.e., having any one of the following strings:

tip, tip amount, reward amount, and reward amount

If any of the above strings is found, the receipt is assumed to be a tip structure receipt.

2. If the first rule is unsuccessful, an attempt is made to find evidence that the receipt is a standard non-tip structure, as evidenced by the presence of a tax item. The tax item items include the following strings: tax item, sales tax, (state abbreviation, PA) tax item, (state abbreviation) sales tax if one of the above strings is found, the receipt can be assumed to be a non-tip structure.

3. If none of the above rules apply successfully, the receipt should be considered a non-tip structure.

Payment method

1. The receipt is positively searched for certain strings to determine its payment method.

2. If any of the following strings are found, the receipt is treated as a credit card receipt: MASTERCARD, MC, VISA, AMEX, CREDIT

3. If the following string of evidence of expiration date is found, the receipt is treated as a credit card receipt: EXP, EXP DATE

4. If evidence of the credit card number is found and the string is in the following format, the receipt is treated as a credit card receipt: XXXXXXXXXXXXX 1234, 1234123412341234, XXXXXXXXXXXXX 1234

5. If the "cash" string is found within one third of the receipt bottom, the receipt is considered a cash receipt.

6. If none of the above rules apply successfully and the receipt is yellow, the receipt should be considered a credit card receipt.

7. If none of the above rules are successfully applied and the receipt is white, the receipt should be considered a cash receipt.

In total (receipt for tip)

1. An attempt is made to find totals by looking for a tip receipt summary identifier string in the lower half of the receipt, and the amount following these strings is recorded as subtotal and calculated using a fifteen percent net value or an optional tip function.

The following strings are valid total identifiers: subtotal, base, sum before calculation of tip

2. If the total identifier cannot be found, the total identifier can be assumed to be on a receipt with a tip structure, and the subtotal amount is the maximum amount which can be read on the receipt.

In total (non-tip receipt)

1. The total on the non-tip receipt is first found by searching the total identifier string and assuming that the number following this string is the appropriate total.

Valid total identifier string: total, sales

2. If a valid total identifier string cannot be found and the payment method rules above indicate that the receipt is a credit card sale, then the total is the maximum value on the receipt.

3. If a valid total identifier string cannot be found and the receipt is a cash receipt, then the change identifier and the change amount are searched for, and the change amount often follows the change identifier.

Valid change identifier: change, change balance

4. And if the change amount is not zero, taking the second highest amount on the lower half part of the receipt as the total amount.

5. And if the change amount is zero, taking the highest amount on the lower half part of the receipt as the total amount.

6. If the change amount is not recognized, a repeat amount is sought, assuming this is a total amount and this is an un-repeat case and should be the last two amounts on the receipt.

7. If a change amount or a repeat amount cannot be found, it is assumed that this is a receipt that needs to be renewed and the next highest identifiable amount is recorded as the total amount.

Finish the watch

As mentioned above, in a preferred embodiment, receipts are stored and processed remotely via an Internet, intranet or other network that serves several primary purposes: 1) ensuring that the receipt has not been used or modified to ensure its legitimacy; 2) having individual users and/or institutions store and organize the receipts; 3) reflecting the functions provided by the terminal user to the network user; and 4) to facilitate the delivery of expense reports and images to multiple users in electronic form. The Internet receipt portal (ASP) provides several benefits to individual users, which can serve as a source of validation to ensure that the receipt has not been used or modified in any way, which is important to the tax authority and employer. The user may access his account via the internet and view and create a receipt expense report, rather than just a receipt expense report on a computer processor with installed software.

Mechanisms may also benefit from the system. If the receipt system is used by the entire institution, the institution can combine the expense report with the accounts payable program of its accounting system, authorization can be approved, the account reduced and mailable, and a notice can be sent to the person who submitted the expense receipt.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed above, and is intended to include various modifications and related processes within the spirit and scope of the following claims. The foregoing is a complete understanding of the present invention, although not explicitly stated, and is intended to represent the present or future knowledge and application of such to various uses.

Claims (63)

1. A method of processing an expense receipt comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a computer processor, an electronic image of the expense receipt;

processing the electronic image to obtain cost data;

presenting the cost data in an electronic expense report;

displaying the electronic expense report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein: wherein the step of creating an electronic image is performed by a scanner, digital camera, facsimile machine, personal digital assistant camera, telephone camera, or communicator camera.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the computer processor is a mainframe computer, computer server, desktop computer, laptop computer, personal digital assistant, telephone, or communicator.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the method further includes the step of storing the electronic image in a non-volatile memory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein: wherein the step of processing the electronic image further comprises the steps of:

acquiring character data from the electronic image by using character recognition software;

the word data is analyzed to retrieve expense data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein: wherein the step of displaying the electronic expense report is performed by a web browser or dedicated viewer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein: the expense data is an expense date, an expense amount, a seller name, a payment method or a seller address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein: the method also comprises the following steps:

receiving additional data;

modifying the electronic expense report with the additional data;

displaying the modified electronic expense report;

storing the modified electronic expense report in a non-volatile memory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein: the additional data is a confirmation signature, a correction fee data, or an additional fee data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein: the surcharge data includes cost center allocation of fees, an identifier identifying the generator of the fees, or an identifier of the itinerary, ticket, mileage or other fee without a receipt.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein: the premium data is electronic data received from another computer processor.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein: the expense report includes expense data derived from more than one expense receipt.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein: the method also includes encrypting the electronic image.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein: the steps further include encrypting the expense report.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein: the computer applies a set of fee rules to the fee data.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein: the method further includes the step of transferring the expense report to a billing system.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein: the expense report and the electronic image are stored in different computer systems and are connected by the same identifier.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein: the expense report and receipt image are displayed simultaneously.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein: the expense report, a list of receipt scan books, and receipt images are displayed simultaneously.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein: the expense report is a list of receipt scans.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein: the steps further include checking if there is a duplicate receipt.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein: the computer processor is remotely accessible over a computer network.

23. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for managing a computer system to perform a method for storing an expense receipt comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a computer processor, an electronic image of the expense receipt;

processing the electronic image to obtain cost data;

presenting the cost data in an electronic expense report;

displaying the electronic expense report.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: wherein the step of creating an electronic image is performed by a scanner, digital camera, facsimile machine, personal digital assistant camera, telephone camera, or communicator camera.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the computer processor is a mainframe computer, computer server, desktop computer, laptop computer, personal digital assistant, telephone, or communicator.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the method further includes the step of storing the electronic image in a non-volatile memory.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: wherein the step of processing the electronic image further comprises the steps of:

acquiring character data from the electronic image by using character recognition software;

the word data is analyzed to retrieve expense data.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: wherein the step of displaying the electronic expense report is performed by a web browser or dedicated viewer.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the expense data is an expense date, an expense amount, a seller name, a payment method or a seller address.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the method also comprises the following steps:

receiving additional data;

modifying the electronic expense report with the additional data;

displaying the modified electronic expense report;

storing the modified electronic expense report in a non-volatile memory.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, wherein: the additional data is a confirmation signature, a correction fee data, or an additional fee data.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein: the surcharge data includes cost center allocation of fees, an identifier identifying the generator of the fees, or an identifier of the itinerary, ticket, mileage or other fee without a receipt.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein: the premium data is electronic data received from another computer processor.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the expense report includes expense data derived from more than one expense receipt.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the method also includes encrypting the electronic image.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the steps further include encrypting the expense report.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the computer applies a set of fee rules to the fee data.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the method further includes the step of transferring the expense report to a billing system.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the expense report and the electronic image are stored in different computer systems and are connected by the same identifier.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the expense report and receipt image are displayed simultaneously.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the expense report, a list of receipt scan books, and receipt images are displayed simultaneously.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the expense report is a list of receipt scans.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the steps further include checking if there is a duplicate receipt.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein: the computer processor is remotely accessible over a computer network.

45. A system for processing an expense receipt, comprising:

a receipt image input device for creating an electronic image of said input device;

a computer processor coupled to the receipt;

a software mode operating on said computer processor that processes said electronic image to obtain cost data;

a software mode operating on said computer processor that fills said expense data into an expense report;

a display coupled to said computer, said expense report being displayed on said display.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein: it also includes a non-volatile memory coupled to the computer processor to store the expense report.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein: the means for creating an electronic image is performed by a scanner, digital camera, facsimile machine, personal digital assistant camera, telephone camera, or communicator camera.

48. The system of claim 45, wherein: the computer processor is a mainframe computer, computer server, desktop computer, laptop computer, personal digital assistant, or telephone.

49. The system of claim 45, wherein: the software mode of processing the electronic image further comprises:

a character recognition software mode for obtaining text data from the electronic image;

an analysis software model that analyzes the word data to retrieve fee data.

50. The system of claim 45, wherein: the display is a web browser or a dedicated viewer.

51. The system of claim 45, wherein: the fee data includes a date of the fee, an amount of the fee, a name of the seller, a payment method, or an address of the seller.

52. The system of claim 45, wherein: it also includes another input device to receive additional data to make modifications to the expense report.

53. The system of claim 1, wherein: the additional data is a confirmation signature, a correction fee data, or an additional fee data.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein: the surcharge data includes cost center allocation of charges, an identifier identifying the user, or an identifier of travel, ticket, mileage, or other charges without receipt.

55. The system of claim 53, wherein: the premium data is electronic data received from another computer processor.

56. The system of claim 45, wherein: it also includes a software mode operating on the computer processor to encrypt the electronic image.

57. The system of claim 45, wherein: it also includes a software model to apply a set of fee rules to the fee data and fee reports.

58. The system of claim 45, wherein: the expense report and the electronic image are stored in different computer systems and are connected by the same identifier.

59. The system of claim 45, wherein: the expense report and receipt image are displayed simultaneously.

60. The system of claim 45, wherein: the expense report, a list of receipt scan books, and receipt images are displayed simultaneously.

61. The system of claim 45, wherein: the expense report is a list of receipt scans.

62. The system of claim 45, wherein: it also includes a software mode to check out duplicate receipts.

63. The system of claim 45, wherein: the system is remotely accessible over a computer network.