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US 8,412,606 B2Granted
User interface for tax-return preparation
AssigneeTaxNet Inc.
InventorDavid K. Murray
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method is implementable in an electronic system coupled to an electronic device, which is, in turn, coupled to a display device. A web page displayable on the display device is served to the electronic device. The displayed web page includes a user interface, which, in turn, includes a frame and at least one stile defining a plurality of panes within the frame. In a first one of the panes, at least one field into which a tax-data provider can input tax data is displayed. In a second one of the panes, information of a first type of a plurality of information types operable to assist the provider in performing a first operation of a set of operations using the user interface is displayed. Input tax data is received from the electronic device.
Claims20
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
- generating in a user interface a frame and at least one stile defining a plurality of panes within which information is displayed and received;
- displaying a plurality of selectable items within the frame;
- displaying in a first one of the panes one or more requests for tax information from a user, with the tax information comprising information necessary to complete a tax return;
- displaying in the first one of the panes one or more fields into which the user can input tax information in response to the one or more requests for tax information;
- providing for the user to select for display in a second one of the panes assistance information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information into the one or more fields of the first one of the panes;
- receiving information indicative of a selection by the user of one of the selectable items of the plurality of selectable items,
- wherein the assistance information corresponds to an assistance information type selected from a plurality of assistance information types via the user's selection of the one of the selectable items of the plurality of selectable items;
- displaying in the second one of the panes the assistance information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information,
- wherein the first one and second one of the panes are displayed in the user interface at the same time upon activation of the user interface,
- wherein during said display of the assistance information, said at least one field con-figured to receive tax information in the first one of the panes remains selectable by and fully visible to the user,
- receiving the tax information input by the user;
- and
- preparing a tax return using the received tax information.
10 more elements
A method implementable in an electronic system coupled to an electronic device, the electronic device being coupled to a display device, the method comprising:
- serving to the electronic device a web page displayable on the display device, the displayed web page including a user interface comprising a frame and at least one stile defining a plurality of panes within which information is displayed and received;
- displaying a plurality of selectable items within the frame;
- displaying in a first one of the panes one or more requests for tax information from a user, with the tax information comprising information necessary to complete a tax return;
- displaying in the first one of the panes one or more fields into which the user can input tax information in response to the one or more requests for tax information;
- providing for the user to select for display in a second one of the panes assistance information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information into the one or more fields of the first one of the panes;
- receiving information indicative of a selection by the user of one of the selectable items of the plurality of selectable items,
- wherein the assistance information corresponds to an assistance information type selected from a plurality of assistance information types via the user's selection of the one of the selectable items of the plurality of selectable items;
- displaying in the second one of the panes the assistance information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information,
- wherein the first one and second one of the panes are displayed in the user interface at the same time upon activation of the user interface,
- wherein during said display of the assistance information, said at least one field con-figured to receive tax information in the first one of the panes remains selectable by and fully visible to the user,
- receiving the tax information input by the user from the electronic device.
8 more elements
A method of transferring a computer program product from at least one first electronic device to at least one second electronic device connected to the at least one first electronic device through a communication medium, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) accessing, on the at least one first electronic device, computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a data-processing system, perform at least the steps of:
- generating in a user interface a frame and at least one stile defining a plurality of panes within which information is displayed and received;
- displaying a plurality of selectable items within the frame;
- displaying in a first one of the panes one or more requests for tax information from a user, with the tax information comprising information necessary to complete a tax return;
- displaying in the first one of the panes one or more fields into which the user can input tax information in response to the one or more requests for tax information;
- providing for the user to select for display in a second one of the panes assistance information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information into the one or more fields of the first one of the panes;
- receiving information indicative of a selection by the user of one of the selectable items of the plurality of selectable items,
- wherein the assistance information corresponds to an assistance information type selected from a plurality of assistance information types via the user's selection of the one of the selectable items of the plurality of selectable items;
- displaying in the second one of the panes the assistance information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information,
- wherein the first one and second one of the panes are displayed in the user interface at the same time upon activation of the user interface,
- wherein during said display of the assistance information, said at least one field configured to receive tax information in the first one of the panes remains selectable by and fully visible to the user,
- receiving the tax information input by the user;
- and
- (b) transferring a set of the computer-executable instructions from the at least one first electronic device to the at least one second electronic device through the communications medium.
11 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
- generating in a user interface a frame and at least one stile defining a plurality of panes within which information is displayed and received;
- displaying a plurality of selectable items within the frame;
- displaying in a first one of the panes one or more requests for tax information from a user, with the tax information comprising information necessary to complete a tax return;
- displaying in the first one of the panes one or more fields into which the user can input tax information in response to the one or more requests for tax information;
- providing for the user to select for displaying in a second one of the panes at least one user- selectable hyperlink to information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information into the one or more fields of the first one of the panes;
- receiving information indicative of a selection by the user of one of the selectable items of the plurality of selectable items,
- wherein the at least one user-selectable hyperlink to information corresponds to an assistance information type selected from a plurality of assistance information types via the user's selection of the one of the selectable items of the plurality of selectable items;
- displaying in the second one of the panes the user-selectable hyperlink to information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information;
- providing for the user to select the user-selectable hyperlink in the second one of the panes;
- receiving information indicative of a selection by the user of the user-selectable hyperlink in the second one of the panes;
- upon receiving from the user a selection of the user-selectable hyperlink, displaying in a third one of the panes a web page comprising the information for assisting the user in inputting the tax information into the one or more fields of the first one of the panes,
- wherein during said display of the information in the third one of the panes, said at least one field configured to receive tax information in the first one of the panes remains selectable by and fully visible to the user,
- receiving the tax information input by the user;
- and preparing a tax return using the received tax information.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.