System and method for dynamic assistance in software applications using behavior and host application models
First Claim
1. A computer-based assistance system for providing operational guidance of commands to use a computer program, the assistance system comprising:
- a command indicator for visually indicating to a user a portion of a display of the computer program corresponding to a specific command to be executed; and
an interactive assistance object, responsive to the command indicator indicating the specific command, for interacting with the user to guide the user in execution of the specific command.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A Cooperative Help Assistance (CHA) system and method provide real-time user assistance for one or more windows-based Graphic User Interface (GUI) applications or a single application'"'"'s different subsections such as web pages, running concurrently in any operating system. The CHA System enables the development of an informative assistance object independently from the original source code or development environment of the target Host Application. The assistance object can be selected by any number of user interfaces from sophisticated inference driven interactive interface search tools or categorized lists. By intercepting and monitoring user actions on a Host Application, the CHA system performs intelligent assistance in the context of the target host application program. Utilizing a Host Application Model, the CHA System and method dynamically assemble many elements in real-time or just-in-time to produce assistance sequences or elements very efficiently without having to code every interface path permutation. Paths can be dynamically generated from the Host Application Model, which enables a real-time module to offer intelligent, contextual assistance as well as real-time construction of automated, accelerated CHA Sequences or Procedures that require little or no user interaction. All assistance and information are processed and expressed by an extensive multitasking, multimedia subsystem for two dimensional (2D) and real-time three-dimensional (3D) application interfaces, which greatly enhances and extends the effectiveness of any explanation or material expression. The production of Assistant Sequences is facilitated by the Host Application Model and 2D and 3D GUI “drag and drop” interface tools.
205 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A computer-based assistance system for providing operational guidance of commands to use a computer program, the assistance system comprising:
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a command indicator for visually indicating to a user a portion of a display of the computer program corresponding to a specific command to be executed; and
an interactive assistance object, responsive to the command indicator indicating the specific command, for interacting with the user to guide the user in execution of the specific command. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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18. A computer-based assistance system for providing operational guidance of commands to use a computer program, the assistance system comprising:
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a search tool for searching through a plurality of records representing a host application to determine at least one assistance item key mapping a sequence corresponding to respective controls for implementing a particular command; and
a sequence processor, responsive to the at least one assistance item key, for implementing the particular command.
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27. A method for providing dynamic operational guidance of commands to use a computer program, the method comprising the steps of:
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iteratively searching a Host Application Model to locate a target graphic user interface object (GuiObj) corresponding to a command to execute, and to locate a current location of a user in the Host Application Model;
determining a path through the Host Application Model from the target GuiObj to the current location of the user; and
generating a dynamic guide sequence record from the path for executing the command.
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Specification