IP Library Granted Patent US 11,797,757
Granted Patent B2
US 11,797,757 · App. 17/538,788 · Granted Oct 24, 2023

Electronic form automation

Inventors: Eliot W. Jacobsen (Orem, UT); Hugo Olliphant (Piedmont, CA)
Assignee: PayPal, Inc.
G06F40/174G06Q30/0603G06Q30/0613H04L63/12
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,797,757
App. No.
17/538,788
Granted
Oct 24, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Some embodiments may provide a method comprising receiving, from a remote machine, entity-identifying data and form identifying data, the form identifying data to identify a sequence of one or more electronic forms, the sequence including a target electronic form having a form element, determining an entity identifier, based on the entity-identifying data, accessing, from a data store, an entity attribute value based on the entity identifier, and transmitting, to the remote machine, form-filling instructions operable to cause a machine to automatically associate an entity attribute value with the form element.

Claims (49)

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors coupled to a first web domain; and

non-transitory machine-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, in response to being executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:

receiving an entity-identifying data and form identifying data;

using the form identifying data, identifying a sequence of one or more target electronic forms;

determining an entity identifier based on the entity-identifying data;

determining form element identifying data within each of the one or more target electronic forms;

selecting, for each of the determined form element identifying data, an entity attribute identifier from a data store, wherein the entity attribute identifier is selected based on each of the determined form element identifying data;

retrieving, for each of the entity attribute identifier selected from the data store, an entity attribute value that corresponds to the entity identifier;

accessing, for the identified sequence of one or more target electronic forms, a sequence table that includes details about the sequence of the one or more target electronic forms;

generating, using the retrieved entity attribute values and the accessed sequence table, and based on the form identifying data, form-filling instructions for causing a sequential combination of steps that include entry of the retrieved entity attribute values and activation of selectable buttons; and

transmitting, to a remote computing device, the form-filling instructions for execution.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sequence table identifies, for a given one of the one or more target electronic forms, a particular sequence of a plurality of sequences to which the given target electronic form belongs, and identifies an order of the given target electronic form within the particular sequence.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the form-filling instructions are executed on the remote computing device using a plug-in application.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the entity attribute values corresponding to the entity identifier are updatable using the plug-in application.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the entity-identifying data comprises a cookie including a global unique identifier (GUID) from which the entity identifier is determined.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the entity identifier corresponds to a username and password of a user account.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more target electronic forms includes one or more form elements corresponding to the form element identifying data.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sequence of the one or more target electronic forms corresponds to a sequence of checkout webpages.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise encapsulating the form-filling instructions within a script, and wherein the script is served to the remote computing device in response to receiving a request from the remote computing device.

10. A computer-implemented method for generating form-filling instructions, comprising:

receiving an entity-identifying data and form identifying data;

using the form identifying data, identifying a sequence of one or more target electronic forms;

determining an entity identifier based on the entity-identifying data;

determining form element identifying data within each of the one or more target electronic forms;

selecting, for each of the determined form element identifying data, an entity attribute identifier from a data store, wherein the entity attribute identifier is selected based on each of the determined form element identifying data;

retrieving, for each of the entity attribute identifier selected from the data store, an entity attribute value that corresponds to the entity identifier;

accessing, for the identified sequence of one or more target electronic forms, a sequence table that includes details about the sequence of the one or more target electronic forms;

generating, using the retrieved entity attribute values and the accessed sequence table, form-filling instructions for causing a sequential combination of steps that include entry of the retrieved entity attribute values and activation of selectable buttons; and

transmitting the form-filling instructions for execution on a remote computing device.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the form-filling instructions are executed on the remote computing device using a plug-in application, and wherein the entity attribute values corresponding to the entity identifier are updatable using the plug-in application.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein each of the one or more target electronic forms includes one or more form elements corresponding to the form element identifying data.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the sequential combination of steps corresponds to a sequence for a checkout process on a merchant webpage.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the checkout process on the merchant webpage includes navigation through multiple webpages, and wherein the one or more target electronic forms correspond to at least a portion of the multiple webpages.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the form-filling instructions are encapsulated within a script, and wherein transmitting the form-filling instructions for execution on the remote computing device comprises transmitting the script.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15 , wherein the script is transmitted to the remote computing device in response to receiving a request from the remote computing device.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an entity-identifying data and form identifying data;

using the form identifying data, identifying a sequence of one or more target electronic forms;

determining an entity identifier based on the entity-identifying data;

determining form element identifying data within each of the one or more target electronic forms;

selecting, for each of the determined form element identifying data, an entity attribute identifier from a data store, wherein the entity attribute identifier is selected based on each of the determined form element identifying data;

retrieving, for each of the entity attribute identifier selected from the data store, an entity attribute value that corresponds to the entity identifier;

accessing, for the identified sequence of one or more target electronic forms, a sequence table that includes details about the sequence of the one or more target electronic forms;

generating, using the retrieved entity attribute values and the accessed sequence table and, for the identified sequence of one or more target electronic forms, form-filling instructions for causing a sequential combination of steps that include entry of the retrieved entity attribute values and activation of selectable buttons; and

transmitting the form-filling instructions for execution on a remote computing device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising determining the sequential combination of steps, for a given one of the one or more target electronic forms, including identifying a particular element to be actuated to advance the sequential combination to a next one of the one or more target electronic forms.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the entity-identifying data comprises a cookie including a global unique identifier (GUID) from which the entity identifier is determined.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the sequence of the one or more target electronic forms corresponds to a sequence of checkout webpages.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 20, 2023
From: JACOBSEN, ELIOT W.; OLLIPHANT, HUGO
To: EBAY INC.
Reel/Frame 064977/0161 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 20, 2023
From: EBAY INC.
To: PAYPAL, INC.
Reel/Frame 064977/0165 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 14633828 · Feb 27, 2015
Continuation 11656635 · Jan 23, 2007
Provisional Application 60885180 · Jan 16, 2007
Related Publication 20220083728A1 · Mar 17, 2022