Method and system for automatically filling forms in an integrated network based transaction environment

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein said selection criteria comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein said forms are presented by online sites to gather information to complete a transaction.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 further comprising: recognizing a subsequent form presented by said on-line site; performing the determining, identifying, matching, examining, determining the user information, and filling repeatedly for said subsequent form.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 wherein said online sites comprise world wide web sites.

Claim 9

The system of claim 6 wherein said selection criteria further comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

Claim 10

The system of claim 6 wherein said forms are presented by online sites to gather information to complete a transaction.

Claim 11

The system of claim 6 wherein said client and said server are further operatively disposed to: recognize a subsequent form presented by said on-line site; perform the determining, identifying, matching, examining, searching and filling repeatedly for said subsequent form.

Claim 12

The system of claim 6 wherein said online sites comprise world wide web sites.

Claim 13

A computer programming product for automatically filling in on-line forms in an Internet transactional environment, said on-line forms being contained in a plurality of pages, presented by at least one of a plurality of on-line sites, comprising: a computer readable storage medium for holding a variety of codes, said codes comprising: code for storing user information for a plurality of users and forms information for a plurality of on-line forms, wherein said user information includes properties associated, with the plurality of users, and wherein said forms information includes form identifiers associated with the plurality of on-line forms, a plurality of patterns associated with the plurality of on-line forms, and properties associated with the plurality of on-line forms; code for receiving selection criteria from a first user from the plurality of users; code for determining, based upon said selection criteria, a first form identifier from said forms information corresponding to a first on-line form from said plurality of on-line forms, said first on-line form contained in a first page of said plurality of pages; code for identifying a first plurality of patterns corresponding to said first form identifier from said forms information; code for matching each of said first plurality of patterns to said first page containing said first on-line form to obtain a matching pattern, wherein said matching pattern identifies a plurality of attributes of said first page; and if said matching pattern is obtained; code for examining said first page to obtain the plurality of attributes; code for determining user information for each of said plurality of attributes based upon said matching pattern from said forms information and said user information; and code for filling in said first on-line form with said user information for the first user.

Claim 14

A computer programming product for automatically filling in on-line forms in an Internet transactional environment, said on-line forms being contained in a plurality of pages, presented by at least one of a plurality of on-line sites, comprising: a computer readable storage medium for holding a variety of codes, said codes comprising: code for storing user information for a plurality of users and forms information for a plurality of on-line forms, wherein said user information includes properties associated, with the plurality of users, and wherein said forms information includes form identifiers associated with the plurality of on-line forms, a plurality of patterns associated with the plurality of on-line forms, and properties associated with the plurality of on-line forms; code for receiving selection criteria from a first user from the plurality of users; code for determining, based upon said selection criteria, a first form identifier from said forms information corresponding to a first on-line form from said plurality of on-line forms, said first on-line form contained in a first page of said plurality of pages; code for identifying a first plurality of patterns corresponding to said first form identifier from said forms information; code for matching each of said first plurality of patterns to said first page containing said first on-line form to obtain a matching pattern, wherein said matching pattern identifies a plurality of attributes of said first page; and if said matching pattern is obtained; code for examining said first page to obtain the plurality of attributes; code for determining user information for each of said plurality of attributes based upon said matching pattern from said forms information and said user information; and code for filling in said first on-line form with said user information for the first user.

Claim 15

The computer programming product of claim 11 wherein said selection criteria comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

Claim 16

The computer programming product of claim 11 wherein said forms are presented by online sites to gather information to complete a transaction.

Claim 17

The computer programming product of claim 11 further comprising: code for recognizing a subsequent form presented by said on-line site; code for invoking the code for determining, code for identifying, code for matching, code for examining, code for determining the user information, and code for filling repeatedly for said subsequent form.

Claim 18

The computer programming product of claim 11 wherein said on-line sites comprise world wide web sites.

Claim 19

A computer-implemented method of filling a first on-line form contained in a first web page, the method comprising: storing user information for a plurality of users, the user information including properties associated with the plurality of users; storing forms information for a plurality of forms contained in a plurality of web pages, the plurality of forms including the first on-line form, the forms information comprising form identifiers associated with the plurality of on-line forms, a plurality of patterns associated with the plurality of on-line forms, and properties associated with the plurality of on-line forms; receiving a request from a first user from the plurality of users to fill in the first on-line form; based on the request, determining a first form identifier corresponding to the first on-line form from the forms information; based on the first form identifier, identifying a first plurality of patterns from the forms information corresponding to the first on-line form; determining a matching pattern from the first plurality of patterns which corresponds to the first web page containing the first on-line form, the matching pattern identifying a plurality of attributes of the first on-line form contained in the first page; determining a plurality of properties associated with the first on-line form from the forms information; determining values for the plurality of attributes based on the plurality of properties associated with the first on-line form and the user information for the first user; and using the values to fill in the first on-line form.

Claim 20

A computer-implemented method of filling a first on-line form contained in a first web page, the method comprising: storing user information for a plurality of users, the user information including properties associated with the plurality of users; storing forms information for a plurality of forms contained in a plurality of web pages, the plurality of forms including the first on-line form, the forms information comprising form identifiers associated with the plurality of on-line forms, a plurality of patterns associated with the plurality of on-line forms, and properties associated with the plurality of on-line forms; receiving a request from a first user from the plurality of users to fill in the first on-line form; based on the request, determining a first form identifier corresponding to the first on-line form from the forms information; based on the first form identifier, identifying a first plurality of patterns from the forms information corresponding to the first on-line form; determining a matching pattern from the first plurality of patterns which corresponds to the first web page containing the first on-line form, the matching pattern identifying a plurality of attributes of the first on-line form contained in the first page; determining a plurality of properties associated with the first on-line form from the forms information; determining values for the plurality of attributes based on the plurality of properties associated with the first on-line form and the user information for the first user; and using the values to fill in the first on-line form.

Claim 21

The method of claim 16 wherein determining the values for the plurality of attributes comprises applying transformation functions to the plurality of properties associated with the first on-line form to yield the values.