Path-sensitive contextual help system

• US 10,579,400 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2016
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Duesterwald, Evelyn, Thomas, John C., Wagstrom, Patrick A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan, Yongjia
• Application Number:
  US15/349,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20180136949A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,208 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Embodiments include method, systems and computer program products for a path-sensitive contextual help system. In some embodiments, user actions are obtained from a user session of a user. A concrete user action trace is captured using the obtained user actions, wherein the concrete user action trace is a subset of user actions from the user session. An abstract user action trace is generated using the concrete user action trace. A help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace is identified and, in some embodiments, is presented to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing path-sensitive contextual help, the method comprising:

determining initialization of a user session that includes interaction with a shopping website by a user;

generating a help system that provides help information corresponding to the user session, the help system including information for overcoming user-encountered problems of the user session;

obtaining user actions starting from the initialization of the user session of the user;

detecting a trigger event during the user session, the trigger event corresponding to a problem encounter by the user during the user session;

in response to detecting the trigger event, capturing a concrete user action trace using the user actions obtained from initialization of a user session to the trigger event, wherein the concrete user action trace is a subset of user actions from the user session;

generating an abstract user action trace using the concrete user action trace, wherein the generating comprises abstracting the user actions in the concrete user action trace to high-level action types, the high-level action types including “

item selection”

, “

add-to-cart click”

, “

cart view”

, and “

browser back, and generating the abstract user action trace using the high-level action types corresponding to each of the user actions of the concrete user action trace; and

identifying a help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace, wherein identifying the help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace further comprises comparing the abstract user action trace proceeding the trigger event with a plurality of trace expressions in a help data structure, and the help data structure comprises a help system table that stores the trace expressions along with stored help actions corresponding to the stored trace expressions, wherein a particular help action is determined in response to a match between a high-level action corresponding to the abstract user trace and a stored trace expression,

wherein the help action includes directing the user to a specific portion of the help system that resolves the problem encountered by the user, the specific portion of the help system including the particular help action such that context that matches context of a most recent high-level action type corresponding to a respective obtained user action.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace further comprises comparing the abstract user action trace with a plurality of trace expressions in a help data structure.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining that the abstract user action trace matches a single trace expression from the plurality of trace expressions; and

obtaining the help action corresponding to the single trace expression.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining the abstract user action trace matches two trace expressions from the plurality of trace expressions;

using a heuristic to select one of the two trace expressions from the plurality of trace expressions; and

obtaining the help action corresponding to the selected one of the two trace expressions.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining the abstract user action trace does not match any of the plurality of the trace expressions; and

obtaining a default help view to present to the user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining user action data from a plurality of users;

analyzing the user action data;

identifying a new trace expression and a new corresponding help action based on the analyzed user action data; and

adding a new entry in a help data structure comprising the new trace expression and the new corresponding help action.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the high-level action types comprise types of user actions.

8. A computer program product for providing path sensitive contextual help, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable by a processing circuit to cause the processing circuit to perform a method comprising:

determining initialization of a user session of a user that includes interaction with a shopping website by a user;

generating a help system that provides help information corresponding to the user session, the help system including information for overcoming user-encountered problems of the user session

obtaining user actions starting from the initialization the user session of the user;

detecting a trigger event during the user session, the trigger event corresponding to a problem encounter by the user during the user session;

in response to detecting the trigger event, capturing a concrete user action trace using the user actions obtained from initialization of a user session to the trigger event, wherein the concrete user action trace is a subset of user actions from the user session;

generating an abstract user action trace using the concrete user action trace, wherein the generating comprises abstracting the user actions in the concrete user action trace to high-level action types, the high-level action types including “

item selection”

, “

add-to-cart click”

, “

cart view”

, and “

browser back, and generating the abstract user action trace using the high-level action types corresponding to each of the user actions of the concrete user action trace; and

identifying a help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace, wherein identifying the help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace further comprises comparing the abstract user action trace proceeding the trigger event with a plurality of trace expressions in a help data structure, and the help data structure comprises a help system table that stores the trace expressions along with stored help actions corresponding to the stored trace expressions, wherein a particular help action is determined in response to a match between a high-level action corresponding to the abstract user trace and a stored trace expression,

wherein the help action includes directing the user to a specific portion of the help system that resolves the problem encountered by the user, the specific portion of the help system including the particular help action such that context that matches context of a most recent high-level action type corresponding to a respective obtained user action.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein identifying the help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace further comprises comparing the abstract user action trace with a plurality of trace expressions in a help data structure.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

determining the abstract user action trace matches a single trace expression from the plurality of trace expressions; and

obtaining the help action corresponding to the single trace expression.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

determining the abstract user action trace matches two trace expressions from the plurality of trace expressions;

using a heuristic to select one of the two trace expressions from the plurality of trace expressions; and

obtaining the help action corresponding to the selected one of the two trace expressions.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

determining the abstract user action trace does not match any of the plurality of the trace expressions; and

obtaining a default help view to present to the user.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining user action data from a plurality of users;

analyzing the user action data;

identifying a new trace expression and a new corresponding help action based on the analyzed user action data; and

adding a new entry in a help data structure comprising the new trace expression and the new corresponding help action.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the high-level action types comprise types of user actions.

15. A computer system, comprising:

a processor in communication with one or more types of memory, the processor configured to;

determine initialization of a user session of a user that includes interaction with a shopping website by a user;

generate a help system that provides help information corresponding to the user session, the help system including information for overcoming user-encountered problems of the user session;

obtain user actions starting from an initialization of the user session of a user;

detect a trigger event during the user session, the trigger event corresponding to a problem encounter by the user during the user session;

in response to the trigger event, capture a concrete user action trace using the user actions obtained from initialization of a user session to the trigger event, wherein the concrete user action trace is a subset of user actions from the user session;

generate an abstract user action trace using the concrete user action trace, wherein the generating comprises abstracting the user actions in the concrete user action trace to high-level action types, the high-level action types including “

item selection”

, “

add-to-cart click”

, “

cart view”

, and “

browser back, and generating the abstract user action trace using the high-level action types corresponding to each of the user actions of the concrete user action trace; and

identify a help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace, wherein identifying the help action corresponding to the abstract user action trace further comprises comparing the abstract user action trace proceeding the trigger event with a plurality of trace expressions in a help data structure, and the help data structure comprises a help system table that stores the trace expressions along with stored help actions corresponding to the stored trace expressions, wherein a particular help action is determined in response to a match between a high-level action corresponding to the abstract user trace and a stored trace expression,

wherein the help action includes directing the user to a specific portion of the help system that resolves the problem encountered by the user, the specific portion of the help system including the particular help action such that context that matches context of a most recent high-level action type corresponding to a respective obtained user action.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the help action corresponding to the abstract user trace by comparing the abstract user action trace with a plurality of trace expressions in a help data structure.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine the abstract user action trace matches a single trace expression from the plurality of trace expressions; and

obtain the help action corresponding to the single trace expression.

18. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine the abstract user action trace matches two trace expressions from the plurality of trace expressions;

use a heuristic to select one of the two trace expressions from the plurality of trace expressions; and

obtain the help action corresponding to the selected one of the two trace expressions.

19. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

obtain user action data from a plurality of users;

analyze the user action data;

identify a new trace expression and a new corresponding help action based on the analyzed user action data; and

add a new entry in a help data structure comprising the new trace expression and the new corresponding help action.

20. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the high-level action types comprise types of user actions, and wherein the processor dynamically learns new trigger events based on previous trigger events detected in a previous user session performed prior to the user session.