CN110097417B

CN110097417B - Populating user data

Info

Publication number: CN110097417B
Application number: CN201910213439.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: M.鲁斯
Original assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC
Current assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC
Priority date: 2011-10-10
Filing date: 2012-10-10
Publication date: 2023-04-07
Anticipated expiration: 2032-10-10
Also published as: CN102982458A; CN110097417A

Abstract

A computer system for receiving user data comprising: a user access component having a processor and a display arranged to execute a data receiving application, wherein the data receiving application provides at least one address field on the display; and a geographical location device in communication with the location network and arranged to identify a geographical location of the device using information from the location network, the geographical location device being located at a user address, the geographical location device being operable to provide location data from which address data for the user address is derived and supplied to the data receiving application to automatically populate the address field on the display.

Description

Populating user data

The application is a divisional application with the application number of 201210381807.5 and the name of 'filling user data', which is submitted on 10 months and 10 days in 2012.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to populating user data in a computer system.

Background

User terminals in computer systems are often connected in communication networks to provide them with access to a wide range of services. In particular, the user terminal may execute a web browser for accessing the public internet for calling a website associated with a specific service provided by a host server also connected to the internet. In order to access the services provided by the host server, the user at the user terminal must provide user data to be supplied to the host server via a communications network (e.g. the internet) and in return the services can be accessed. To prompt the user for data, the web browser may launch a page having a series of fields into which the user is expected to enter certain user data, such as user name, login details, and the like. In particular, the type of data that is often required to permit online transactions is address data. For security reasons, such data is typically not stored at the host server or user terminal. Thus, such data must be re-entered each time the user wishes to perform an online transaction. The user may input such data using a user interface such as a mouse/cursor or keyboard or any other suitable interface (e.g., a touch screen).

A zip code mapping service exists such that if a user terminal or web site is connected to such a service, the user can enter a zip code and a series of alternative addresses are displayed to the user associated with the address field such that the user can select the correct address to fill the address field by clicking on the correctly displayed address. This reduces the amount of data that must be entered into the address field by the user.

Nonetheless, entering addresses on mobile devices with touch screens or keypads is extremely annoying and some people may make mistakes when entering them.

It is an object of the invention to increase the facilities with which a user can fill in an address field accurately and efficiently.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the present invention there is provided a computer system for receiving user data, comprising: a user access component having a processor arranged to execute a data receiving application and a display, wherein the data receiving application provides at least one address field on the display; and

a geographical location device in communication with the location network and arranged to identify a geographical location of the device using information from the location network, the geographical location device being located at an address of a user, the geographical location device being operable to provide location data from which address data for the user address is derived and supplied to the data receiving application to automatically populate the address field on the display.

The present invention also provides a method of supplying address data to a data store in a computer system, the method comprising:

executing a data receiving application on a processor of a computer system, the data receiving application providing address data fields for a user on a display;

notifying the geolocation device to identify the location of the computer system using information from the location network and supplying address data derived from the geolocation data to the data store; and

the data receiving application retrieves address data from the data store and automatically populates the address field with the address data.

The invention also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the aforementioned method.

The invention is particularly useful in the context of online charging, where users enable mobile payment by allowing billing address data for the payment process to be completed using a geo-location device present on their mobile device. That is, the computer system preferably comprises a unitary mobile device that provides the user access components and the geolocation device within a single housing that can be carried around by the user.

The geolocation device may include a GPS/AGPS navigation system or may rely on a mobile cellular network location system.

Geo-location devices operate by providing location coordinates that identify the geographic location of the device. The computer system may be connected to an external address service via a data connection that uses the location coordinates to provide an accurate address for the geographic location.

Such an external address service may use a database and search facilities in existing navigation systems, where addresses are entered to provide geographic locations, and the search is conducted "in reverse".

The GPS/AGPS system operates by transmitting wireless signals to a satellite network and receiving responses from which the location of the device can be identified by a lookup process, which may take a period of time, perhaps 1 or 2 seconds.

It is advantageous if the geographical position device can initialize its search process in advance so that the necessary address information can be available at the user terminal at the moment it is needed. This can be done by initiating a lookup procedure if it is known that the user address will be needed in a process that has already been started on the user terminal. To accomplish this, the data receiving application may issue a notification to the geo-location device at the beginning of the data entry process that requires the user's address.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a communication system;

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate example screens in an online flow; and

fig. 4 is a flowchart.

Detailed Description

The computer system 2 includes a user access component 4 connected to a user interface 6. The user access components include a processor 8, a display 10 and a memory 12. The computer system also includes a geographic location device, which in the described embodiment includes a Geographic Positioning System (GPS). In a particularly preferred embodiment, the computer system is a single user terminal, such as a unitary mobile device in which the various components are enclosed in a single housing. Thus, the GPS 14 operates to provide the location of the mobile device. As is well known, GPS navigation systems operate to provide position data of their position using a network of satellites, indicated diagrammatically by reference numeral 15. The operation of the GPS is assumed to be known and is therefore not described further herein.

FIG. 1 shows a computer system 2 connected to a communication network, such as the Internet 18. The host server 20, which is accessible by the user terminal 2, allows the user at the user terminal 2 to access services over the internet.

To access the service, a user at the user terminal 2 uses the user interface 6 to input user data into a page initiated on the display 10 by a web browser executing on the processor 8. User data is communicated to host server 20 via the internet 18 and in this way services at host server 20 may be accessed. One particular type of service that frequently occurs is an online charging service. To enable online purchases, the user may be presented with a series of pages of the website from which the user wishes to purchase goods or services, and by virtue thereof, the user may select a series of goods or services to purchase. When the user has reached a state where he has decided to purchase one or more goods or services, a screen such as that shown in fig. 2 may be presented to him, fig. 2 illustrating a series of items selected for purchase and a button 24 which the user may cause to start the purchase, for example by clicking on (or touching on a touch screen). At this stage, the data receiving application executed by the processor 8 may recognize that online charging is about to commence and may issue a notification to the GPS 14 to initiate its lookup process. At this stage, a billing page for the user is initiated on the display 10, as shown in FIG. 3. The billing page 26 includes a series of fields including, for example, a field 28 for the name of the user, a field 30 for credit or debit card details, expiration date, etc., and an address field 32 for receiving a billing address.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, after the GPS 14 has made its look-up and provided location data identifying the geographic location of the device using information from the satellite network 16, the address field 32 is automatically populated with address data based on the location data received from the GPS 14. It will be appreciated that the positioning data from the GPS is in the form of map coordinates (e.g., 28 ° N3 ° E) rather than a postal address. A conversion is required which may be done by the GPS 14, the processor 8 or by the address service 15.

Many existing mobile devices operating as user terminals have been equipped with fast but inaccurate location systems that operate in addition to GPS. In such a case, the address field should be filled with data from a "less accurate" location system, while the GPS searches for response signals from its satellite network to provide location data from which an address can be identified and used to more accurately fill the address field.

To this end, an address service (identified by reference numeral 15 in fig. 1) may be connected to the GPS 14 via a data connection and may be used to supply an accurate address for the location coordinates acquired by the GPS 14. The GPS 14 on the device may supply coordinate data which will be changed to a "real" address by the address service 15. The service 15 has a mapping between an address and a location, similar to Google, which is used to translate addresses to geographic locations ^TM Maps, etc., but which are used in turn to supply addresses from location coordinates.

The address data is supplied to a memory 12 which acts as a data store from which the data receiving application can retrieve the address data.

In any case, the resulting address is suggested to the user as a billing address and/or a delivery address by presenting the resulting address to the user in an address field on the display 10. The user may confirm via the user interface (e.g., by clicking on it to select it) that the address is accurate. Alternatively, the user may correct the captured address, provided that the details are not accurate or precise enough.

The billing address may be used for purchase after the user has confirmed it. In the event that the purchase service provider does not provide reusability of billing data, which is often the case for security reasons, the user terminal may cache it by linking it to the location coordinates acquired by the GPS device. That is, the address may be stored at the device in a cache with location coordinates, so that the same address is provided the next time location coordinates are obtained.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a simplified user flow for implementing an embodiment of the present invention. The purchase process is initiated by the user, per step 101. The billing address acquisition requirement occurs, per step 102, and this is communicated to the GPS device 14. In step 103 the GPS device obtains a position fix and provides the location data to the address device 15 as indicated by step 103 b. The exact address is returned to the user terminal and displayed to the user in the address field 32, whereby the user checks and confirms this data at step 104. At step 105, the user may end the purchase.

The invention may be implemented by any suitable combination of hardware and software. The data receiving application is embodied as a computer program executable on a processor and may be responsible for implementing the purchase procedure or may be a component associated with the purchase procedure or other online service acquisition procedure. The data receiving application may be stored in the memory 12.

Claims

1. A computer system for receiving user data, comprising:

a user terminal having a processor arranged to execute a data receiving application, wherein the data receiving application provides at least one street address field for a transaction, and wherein the user terminal is configured to:

receiving user input to initiate the transaction; and

in response to the user input, issuing a notification that a street address for the transaction is required; and

a geolocation device in communication with a location network and arranged to receive said notification and to identify a geographic location of said user terminal using information from said location network, said geolocation device operable to provide location data, wherein street address data for a user address is derived from said location data and supplied to said data receiving application for automatically transmitting said street address data to said data receiving application for populating a street address field for said transaction.

2. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the user terminal comprises a unitary mobile terminal.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the geolocation device is operable to communicate with a geolocation system through the location network to obtain the geographic location of the user terminal.

4. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising a data connection for supplying positioning data from the geolocation device to an address service, the address service using the positioning data to provide the address data for populating the address field.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the data receiving application is operable to issue a notification to the geo-location device at the beginning of a data input stream requiring a user address.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the user terminal is further configured to:

detecting a user input confirming that the street address data is populated into the street address field; and

in response to the user input, causing the street address data to be used to continue the transaction.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the user terminal is further configured to:

detecting user input confirming the street address data by selecting the street address data populated into the street address field; and

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the geo-locating device is further configured to:

determining an approximate location of the user terminal prior to identifying a geographic location of the user terminal from the positioning network;

providing the approximate location of the user terminal to the data receiving application for populating to the street address field; and

transmitting the street address data to the data receiving application to be used to replace an approximate location of the user terminal in the street address field for the transaction.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the geo-locating device is further configured to:

prior to identifying the geographical location of the user terminal in accordance with the positioning network, determining an approximate location of the user terminal using a local function of the user terminal;

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the geo-locating device is configured to cache the street address data in association with a geographic location of the user terminal, wherein the cached street address data is available for subsequent transactions.

11. A method for receiving user data, comprising:

presenting, via an application on a user terminal, a user interface including a street address field usable as part of a transaction implemented via the application;

receiving a user input of the user interface to initiate the transaction;

in response to the user input, issuing a notification that a street address for the transaction is required;

identifying a geographical location of the user terminal using information from a positioning network in response to the notification,

using a geographic location to formulate street address data corresponding to the geographic location of the user terminal; and

transmitting the street address data to the application for populating a street address field for the transaction.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting additional user input confirming that the street address data is populated into the street address field; and

causing the street address data to be used to continue the transaction in response to the further user input.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting additional user input to the street address field confirming that the street address data is populated into the street address field; and

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing the approximate location of the user terminal to the application for populating to the street address field;

transmitting the street address data to the application for replacing the approximate location of the user terminal in the street address field for the transaction.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing the approximate location of the user terminal to the application for populating to the street address field; and

transmitting the street address data to the application to be used to replace the approximate location of the user terminal in the street address field for the transaction.

16. A memory having instructions stored thereon that are executable to perform operations comprising:

receiving a user input of the user interface to initiate the transaction;

identifying, in response to the notification, a geographical location of the user terminal using information from a positioning network;

using the geographical location of the user terminal to formulate street address data corresponding to the geographical location; and

17. The memory of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

18. The memory of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

19. The memory of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

20. The memory of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an approximate location of the user terminal using a local function of the user terminal prior to identifying the geographical location of the user terminal from the positioning network;

transmitting the street address data to the application to be used to replace an approximate location of the user terminal in the street address field for the transaction.