Method, system and program product for learning computer-generated screens based on user key selections

• US 20050257155A1
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cohen, Gabriel A., Mitchell, Gerald L. Jr., Mathewson, James M. II, Muralidharan, Srinivasan
• Granted Patent: US 8,069,416 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

As a user navigates through a sequence of screens by selecting certain “aid” keys, a graph will be built reflecting the navigation history of the user. When a user requests a certain screen by selecting a particular key, screen data is received from a host on a web server. The screen data for the requested screen is compared to the screen data for the screen(s) in the graph associated with the selected key. If a match is established, the user has visited this screen before and its data has already been converted (e.g., scraped). As such, the screen can be retrieved from storage and served to the user. If, however, a match cannot be established, the requested screen will be converted and stored, and the graph will be updated.

Claims

1. A method for learning computer-generated screens based on user key selections, comprising:

receiving a selection of a key made by a user;

retrieving data for a screen from a host based on the key;

accessing a graph that associates keys with sets of previously visited screens;

using the graph to attempt to match the data for the screen to data for a previously visited screen; and

if a match is established, serving the previously visited screen to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the graph comprises a hierarchical tree of nodes originating from a root, wherein each of the nodes corresponds to a set of screens previously visited by the user, and wherein each of the nodes is associated with a particular key that led the user to the set of screens corresponding thereto.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a plurality of screens within each node are ordered based on a frequency of past occurrence when an associated key was selected.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting the data retrieved from the host into the screen if a match cannot be established;

updating the graph based on the converting, wherein updating the graph comprises associating the screen with the key in the graph; and

storing the data and the screen for future matching.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the key is received on a web server from the user, and wherein the data for the screen is retrieved on the web server from the host.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the using step comprises attempting to match the data for the screen to data for a previously visited screen associated with the key based on fields and strings.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the key is an aid key.

8. A method for building a graph of computer-generated screens navigated by a user, comprising:

receiving selections of keys made by the user to navigate through a sequence of screens;

associating the keys with corresponding screens in the sequence of screens; and

representing the sequence of screens as nodes in the graph based on the associated keys, wherein each of the nodes is associated with a single key.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the selections are received on a web server from the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the web server communicates with a host to obtain data for the sequence of screens corresponding to the keys.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the nodes comprises at least one screen to which the associated key led the user.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein a plurality of screens within a single node are ordered based on a frequency of past occurrence when the key associated with the single node was selected.

13. A system for learning computer-generated screens based on user key selections, comprising:

a selection reception system for receiving a selection of a key made by a user;

a data retrieval system for retrieving data for a screen from a host based on the key;

a graph management system for maintaining a graph that associates keys with sets of previously visited screens; and

a matching system for using the graph to attempt to match the data for the screen to data for a previously visited screen, wherein the previously visited screen is served to the user if a match is established.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the graph comprises a hierarchical tree of nodes originating from a root, wherein each of the nodes corresponds to a set of screens previously visited by the user, and wherein each of the nodes is associated with a particular key that led the user to the set of screens corresponding thereto.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein a plurality of screens within each node are ordered based on a frequency of past occurrence when an associated key was selected.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a conversion system for converting the data retrieved from the host into the screen if a match cannot be established, wherein the graph management system further updates the graph based on the converting, and wherein the graph management system updates the graph by associating the screen with the key in the graph;

a screen serving system for serving the previously visited screen to the user if the match is established; and

a storage system for storing the data and the screen for future matching.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the selection of the key is received on a web server from the user, and wherein the data for the screen sf retrieved on the web server from the host.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the data for the screen is attempted to be matched to the data for the previously visited screen associated with the key based on fields and strings.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the key is an aid key.

20. A graph of computer-generated screens navigated by a user, comprising:

a root corresponding to an initial screen presented to the user; and

a set of nodes originating from the root, wherein each of the set of nodes corresponds to a set of screens resulting from a selection of a key by the user, and wherein each node is associated with a corresponding key.

21. The graph of claim 20, wherein the key is an aid key.

22. The graph of claim 20, wherein the graph is updated as the user navigates through a sequence of screens.

23. The graph of claim 20, wherein the screens are selected from the group consisting of 3270 screens and 5250 screens.

24. The graph of claim 20, wherein the graph is maintained by a web server that communicates with the user, and wherein the web server further communicates with a host.

25. A program product stored on a recordable medium for learning computer-generated screens based on user key selections, which when executed comprises:

program code for receiving a selection of a key made by a user;

program code for retrieving data for a screen from a host based on the key;

program code for maintaining a graph that associates keys with sets of previously visited screens; and

program code for using the graph to attempt to match the data for the screen to data for a previously visited screen, wherein the previously visited screen is served to the user if a match is established.

26. The program product of claim 25, wherein the graph comprises a hierarchical tree of nodes originating from a root, wherein each of the nodes corresponds to a set of screens previously visited by the user, and wherein each of the nodes is associated with a particular key that led the user to the set of screens corresponding thereto.

27. The program product of claim 26, wherein a plurality of screens within each node are ordered based on a frequency of past occurrence when an associated key was selected.

28. The program product of claim 25, further comprising:

program code for converting the data retrieved from the host into the screen if a match cannot be established;

program code for updating the graph based on the converting, wherein the graph is updated by associating the screen with the key in the graph;

program code for serving the previously visited screen to the user if a match is established; and

program code for storing the data and the screen for future matching.

29. The program product of claim 25, wherein the selection of the key is received on a web server from the user, and wherein the data for the screen sf retrieved on the web server from the host.

30. The program product of claim 25, wherein the data for the screen is attempted to be matched to the data for the previously visited screen associated with the key based on fields and strings.

31. The program product of claim 25, wherein the key is an aid key.