Crowdsourcing for documents and forms

• US 10,365,780 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2014
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Inventors: Gupta, Yash Kumar, Vohra, Lalit, Modi, Abhishek, Pandey, Aditya Kumar, Pangasa, Ankit, Thevenet, Frederic, Gould, Kirk B., Bansal, Mohit, Kaushik, Nishant, Sherry, David, Dakin, Steve, Gupta, Vishal K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu, Hua
• Application Number:
  US14/269,589
• Publication Number:
  US 20150319198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,912 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for making an electronic document easier to use based on prior interactions with the same or a similar document by other users. An electronic document is presented to one or more users in an interactive environment. Interactions between the users and the document can be recorded as usage data. The usage data may represent one or more operations performed on the electronic document by the users. Based on the usage data, an enhanced user interaction feature associated with the document is configured. The electronic document and the enhanced user interaction feature are then presented to another user in another interactive environment. The enhanced user interaction feature makes using the document easier than it would be if the feature was not present, particularly for users who are unfamiliar with the document.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting an electronic document to a first user in a first interactive environment;

receiving usage data representing a plurality of operations performed on the electronic document by the first user;

configuring, based on the usage data, an enhanced user interaction feature associated with at least one of the operations; and

presenting the electronic document and the enhanced user interaction feature to a second user in a second interactive environment,

wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is operative to improve interaction between the second user and the electronic document by

generating roles by grouping prior user actions with the electronic document based on similarity of actions from a first prior user to a second prior user,

identifying a role associated with the second user in the second interactive environment based on similarity of one or more actions of the second user in the second interactive environment to the groupings of prior user actions, and

automatically performing a new operation according to the role associated with the second user or assisting the second user with performance of the new operation according to the role associated with the second user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is configured to display, in the second interactive environment, a suggestion to the second user for performing the new operation while the second user is interacting with the electronic document in the second interactive environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is configured to display, in the second interactive environment, instructions to the second user for performing the new operation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the enhanced user interaction feature includes an interactive element that is responsive to a triggering input of the second user in the second interactive environment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the interactive element is configured to cause the new operation to be performed in response to the triggering input.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining which one of the plurality of operations occurred most frequently, wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is associated with the most frequently occurring operation.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a sequence in which the plurality of operations were performed, wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is associated with the sequence of operations.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of operations includes an operation performed on at least one of a plurality of hyperlinks in the electronic document.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the new operation is an extension to functionality provided by the electronic document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the new operation includes suggesting an attachment to be made to the electronic document.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the new operation is one of the plurality of operations performed on the electronic document by the first user.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the new operation includes an operation on at least one of a plurality of hyperlinks in the electronic document.

13. A system comprising:

a storage; and

a processor operatively coupled to the storage and configured to execute instruction stored in the storage that when executed cause the processor to carry out a process comprising;

presenting an electronic document to a first user in a first interactive environment;

receiving usage data representing a plurality of operations performed on the electronic document by the first user;

configuring, based on the usage data, an enhanced user interaction feature associated with at least one of the operations; and

presenting the electronic document and the enhanced user interaction feature to a second user in a second interactive environment,

wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is operative to improve interaction between the second user and the electronic document by

generating roles by grouping prior user actions with the electronic document based on similarity of actions from a first prior user to a second prior user,

identifying a role associated with the second user in the second interactive environment based on similarity of one or more actions of the second user in the second interactive environment to the groupings of prior user actions, and

automatically performing a new operation according to the role associated with the second user or assisting the second user with performance of the new operation according to the role associated with the second user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is configured to automatically perform the new operation while the second user is interacting with the electronic document in the second interactive environment.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is configured to display, in the second interactive environment, instructions to the second user for performing the new operation.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the enhanced user interaction feature includes an interactive element that is responsive to a triggering input of the second user in the second interactive environment.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the interactive element is configured to cause the new operation to be performed in response to the triggering input.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the interactive element is configured to highlight a portion of the second interactive environment corresponding to the new operation.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the new operation is an extension to functionality provided by the electronic document.

20. A non-transitory computer program product having instructions encoded thereon that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out, the process comprising:

presenting an electronic document to a first user in a first interactive environment;

receiving usage data representing a plurality of operations performed on the electronic document by the first user;

configuring, based on the usage data, an enhanced user interaction feature associated with at least one of the operations; and

presenting the electronic document and the enhanced user interaction feature to a second user in a second interactive environment,

wherein the enhanced user interaction feature is operative to improve interaction between the second user and the electronic document by

generating roles by grouping prior user actions with the electronic document based on similarity of actions from a first prior user to a second prior user,

identifying a role associated with the second user in the second interactive environment based on similarity of one or more actions of the second user in the second interactive environment to the groupings of prior user actions, and

automatically performing a new operation according to the role associated with the second user or assisting the second user with performance of the new operation according to the role associated with the second user.