Methods and systems for intelligent form-filling and electronic document generation

A method for generating an electronic document having data fields, comprising:

• providing an authoring tool that is configured as a graphical editor provides an author with an interface to input a plurality of questions related to at least one form via a first plurality of shapes, wherein a position of the first plurality of shapes dictates a desired order of the plurality of questions and possible answers that a user might provide, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of questions are different than a field in the form;
• receiving the position of the first plurality of shapes from the user;
• automatically generating utilizing the authoring tool, a first decision tree based on the questions, the data, the possible answers, and the order of questions;
• using a computing device to read and interpret the first decision tree comprising atoms of a form description language, wherein the first decision tree represents the plurality of questions to be posed to a user, the plurality of questions including a first question related to the form selected from a plurality of forms to be used and a second question related to data to be filled into another field of the form identified by the user in answering the first question, wherein at least one of the atoms comprise a view attribute that defines a manner in which the atom is presented, a model attribute that defines a manner to collect and store obtained data, a control attribute that defines a next step after a respective question is answered, and a help attribute that provides an explanation of the atom;
• posing at least a portion of the plurality of questions to the user according to an order specified by the decision tree;
• receiving answers from the user for at least a portion of the question posed, wherein each answer is associated with one or more of the fields of the form;
• receiving, from the user, user profile data through a second decision tree, wherein the second decision tree, wherein the second decision tree is generated from a second plurality of shapes, wherein the second decision tree is made available to a different form;
• determining conclusions from the answers;
• providing details about the conclusions to the user;
• recording answers to the questions from the user in the computing device;
• using the computing device to automatically generate a populated decision tree comprising atoms of the form description language, wherein the populated decision tree represents the questions of the decision tree, the user profile data, and the corresponding answers from the user;
• associating the answers from the user to one or more data fields of the document template;
• interpreting the answers associated with the questions to determine a value for populating the different form;
• and
• using the computing device to generate a completed electronic document by populating a blank document template that represents the form with at least one of the associated answers, wherein the completed electronic document is generated using the populated decision tree, the document template, and the user profile data that was received via the second decision tree.

A system comprising a storage device readable by a computer, wherein:

• the storage device embodies one or more instructions executable by the computer for performing the following:
• providing an authoring tool that is configured as a graphical editor that provides an author with an interface to input a plurality of questions related to at least one form via a first plurality of shapes, wherein a position of the first plurality of shapes dictates a desired order of the plurality of questions and possible answers that a user might provide, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of questions are different than a field in the form;
• and
• receiving the position of the first plurality of shapes from the user;
• and
• generating a plurality of decision trees comprising one or more atoms of a form description language, wherein the plurality of decision trees represent the plurality of questions facilitating completion of the form having one or more data fields, wherein at least one of the atoms comprise a view attribute that defines a manner in which the atom is presented, a model attribute that defines a manner to collect and store obtained data, a control attribute that defines a next step after a respective question is answered, and a help attribute that provides an explanation of the atom;
• and
• wherein the generation of the plurality of decision trees comprises the steps of:
• receiving the plurality of questions by the computing device, wherein the plurality of questions relate to data requested in the form;
• arranging an order of the questions, based on an arrangement of the first plurality of shapes;
• using the computing device to automatically generate a first decision tree based on the plurality of questions, the possible answers, and the order of the questions;
• and
• receiving user profile data through a second decision tree, wherein the second decision tree is made available to a different form, wherein the second decision tree is generated utilizing a second plurality of shapes;
• assigning a plurality of document templates to the first decision tree;
• receiving answers associated with the questions;
• determining conclusions related to the answers;
• providing details of the conclusions to the user;
• interpreting the answers associated with the questions to determine a value for populating the different form;
• and
• populating the different form based on the populated first decision tree, the plurality of document templates, and the user profile data that was received via the second decision tree.