Patent Issued for Methods and systems for receipt capturing process (USPTO 11620689): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 APR 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11620689, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Jennings, Robert Alpine (Bloomington, IL, US), Kobulnicky, Ben (Bloomington, IL, US), Lommatsch, Theresa E. (Bloomington, IL, US).

This patent was filed on December 2, 2020 and was published online on April 4, 2023.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote:

“Consumers purchase hundreds of items every year, and consumers may be required to retain receipts of the purchased items for future access. The purchase receipt may be required to return a purchased item or to receive warranty benefits. It would be burdensome for the customers to retain receipts of purchases to document expenses or for warranty purposes.

“For example, a consumer buys a 60 inch television at a big box retailer, which comes with a one-year warranty. Within one year, the television stops working. The consumer cannot find the receipt of the television, and cannot recall when and/or where it was purchased. It would be difficult for the consumer to know whether it is still covered under the warranty. Even if the consumer remembers that it is within one year from the purchase date, the consumer may be typically required to produce the purchase receipt with the retailer’s name on the receipt to prove the original purchase date and the purchase price to receive warranty benefits.

“Conventional techniques may be ineffective, inefficient, costly, awkward, and/or include additional drawbacks as well.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments relate to computer systems and methods that may improve efficiency of a receipt capturing process. In some aspects, a purchase of an item (or service) at a merchant location or online may trigger or cause a mobile device to ask the purchaser if they would like to capture receipt information, along with other information, such as notes or warranty information, and store the receipt and other information at a remotely accessible database, memory unit, and/or server for future use or reference. The receipt information may be captured via a photo of a physical receipt, or captured by saving an electronic receipt or email received from a physical or online merchant computing device or server.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for conducting a receipt capturing process may be provided. The method may be implemented via one or more local or remote processors, servers, sensors, and/or transceivers. The method may include, via the one or more local or remote processors, servers, sensors, and/or transceivers: (1) determining whether a customer purchased an item (such as a product or service) using an account that has a receipt capturing tool activated; (2) transmitting, in response to determining that the customer purchased the item (e.g., the product or service) using the account that has the receipt capturing tool activated, a captured receipt alert to the customer inquiring whether to capture a receipt of the purchased item; (3) analyzing, in response to receiving an indication to capture the receipt of the purchased item, the receipt to determine receipt information; and/or (4) storing the receipt information in a secure database. The receipt information may include information detailing a purchased item, a purchase date, a purchase amount, seller information, a retention period, warranty information, and a category of which the receipt is stored in the secure database. The receipt information may be stored in the database or memory unit that may be remotely searchable, such as via a customer mobile device. The method may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer system for capturing a receipt associated with a purchase of an item may be provided. The computer system may include: (a) a network; (b) a computing device; and © a server communicatively coupled to the computing device via the network. The server may be configured to: (1) determine whether a customer purchased an item (such as a product or service) using an account that has a receipt capturing tool activated; (2) transmit, in response to a determination that the customer purchased the item (e.g., the product or service) using the account that has the receipt capturing tool activated, a captured receipt alert to the customer inquiring whether to capture a receipt of the purchased item; (3) analyze, in response to a receipt of an indication to capture the receipt of the purchased item, the receipt to determine receipt information; and/or (4) store the receipt information in a secure database. The receipt information may include information detailing a purchased item, a purchase date, a purchase amount, seller information, a retention period, warranty information, and a category of which the receipt is stored in the secure database. The receipt information may be stored in a database or memory unit in communication with the server and that may be remotely searchable, such as via a customer mobile device. The system may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which shows and describes illustrative embodiments of the disclosed subject matter. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.

“Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Although the drawings represent embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings are not necessarily to scale, and certain features may be exaggerated in order to better illustrate and explain the present disclosure. The exemplification set out herein illustrates an embodiment of the disclosure, in one form, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any manner.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for conducting a receipt capturing process, the method being implemented via one or more local or remote processors, servers, sensors, and/or transceivers, the method comprising, via the one or more local or remote processors, servers, sensors, and/or transceivers: determining whether a customer purchased a service using a customer’s account that has a receipt capturing tool activated; transmitting, in response to determining that the customer purchased the service using the account that has the receipt capturing tool activated, a captured receipt alert to the customer inquiring whether to capture a receipt of the purchased service; automatically capturing, in response to receiving an indication to capture the receipt of the purchased service, the receipt; analyzing the receipt to determine receipt information; and storing the receipt information in a secure database.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receipt includes a hard copy receipt, an electronic receipt, or a receipt email.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining whether to activate a receipt capturing tool of the customer’s account; receiving, in response to determining to activate the receipt capturing tool, a preferred communication method for receiving captured receipt alerts; and activating the receipt capturing tool of the customer’s account.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the captured receipt alert includes at least one of a purchased service, a purchase date, a purchase amount, seller information, and an inquiry whether to capture and store the receipt.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receipt information includes at least one of a purchased service, a purchase date, a purchase amount, seller information, a retention period, warranty information, and a category of which the receipt is stored in the secure database.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising linking the receipt information in the stored database to a warranty covering the purchased service or to an electronic version of the warranty covering the purchased service to facilitate remote retrieval of the receipt information and the electronic version of the warranty at a later data, such as remote retrieval via a customer mobile device.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing an option to purchase a warranty for the purchased service based upon the receipt information.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receipt information is remotely searchable via a customer mobile device or other computing device by at least one of type of purchased service, purchase date, purchase data range, purchase amount, purchase amount range, seller information, store, store chain, merchant chain, merchant, customer notes, and payment type.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receipt information includes at least one of a purchased service, a purchase date, a purchase amount, seller information, a retention period, warranty information, insurance information, a payment type, and a category of which the receipt is stored in the secure database.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising manually capturing, in response to receiving an indication not to capture the receipt of the purchased service, the receipt to determine receipt information, wherein manually capturing the receipt comprises: receiving a photograph of a hard copy receipt via a customer mobile device. obtaining or receiving an electronic receipt or a screen shot of the electronic receipt; or obtaining or receiving an email detailing the purchasing or a screen shot of the email.

“11. A computer system for capturing a receipt associated with a purchase of a service, the system comprising: a network; a computing device; and a server communicatively coupled to the computing device via the network, the server configured to: determine whether a customer purchased a service using a customer’s account that has a receipt capturing tool activated; transmit, in response to a determination that the customer purchased the service using the account that has the receipt capturing tool activated, a captured receipt alert to the customer inquiring whether to capture a receipt of the purchased service; automatically capture, in response to a receipt of an indication to capture the receipt of the purchased service, the receipt; analyze the receipt to determine receipt information; and store the receipt information in a secure database.

“12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the receipt includes a hard copy receipt, an electronic receipt, or a receipt email.

“13. The computer system of claim 11, the server is further configured to: determine whether to activate a receipt capturing tool of the customer’s account; receive, in response to a determination to activate the receipt capturing tool, a preferred communication method for receiving captured receipt alerts; and activate the receipt capturing tool of the customer’s account.

“14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the captured receipt alert includes at least one of a purchased service, a purchase date, a purchase amount, seller information, and an inquiry whether to capture and store the receipt.

“15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the receipt information includes at least one of a purchased service, a purchase date, a purchase amount, seller information, a retention period, warranty information, and a category of which the receipt is stored in the secure database.

“16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to link the receipt information in the stored database to a warranty covering the purchased service or to an electronic version of the warranty covering the purchased service to facilitate remote retrieval of the receipt information and the electronic version of the warranty at a later data, such as remote retrieval via a customer mobile device.

“17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to provide an option to purchase a warranty for the purchased service based upon the receipt information.

“18. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the receipt information is remotely searchable via a customer mobile device or other computing device by at least one of type of purchased service, purchase date, purchase data range, purchase amount, purchase amount range, seller information, store, store chain, merchant chain, merchant, customer notes, and payment type.

“19. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the receipt information includes at least one of a purchased service, a purchase date, a purchase amount, seller information, a retention period, warranty information, insurance information, a payment type, and a category of which the receipt is stored in the secure database.

“20. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to manually capture, in response to a receipt of an indication not to capture the receipt of the purchased service, the receipt to determine receipt information, wherein to manually capture the receipt comprises to: receive a photograph of a hard copy receipt via a customer mobile device; obtain or receive an electronic receipt or a screen shot of the electronic receipt; or obtain or receive an email detailing the purchasing or a screen shot of the email.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Jennings, Robert Alpine. Methods and systems for receipt capturing process. U.S. Patent Number 11620689, filed December 2, 2020, and published online on April 4, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11620689)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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