Strategies for providing just-in-time user assistance
First Claim
1. A method for presenting help information to a user, comprising:
- providing an application interface generated by a primary application, wherein the application interface includes at least one user interface feature associated therewith;
providing a help selection mechanism that overlays the application interface, which allows the user to request help information regarding said at least one user interface feature;
receiving a help request from the user via the help selection mechanism; and
presenting the help information to the user, in response to the received help request, in a manner which allows the user to continue interacting with the primary application.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Help functionality is described for integrating help information into a primary application in a just-in-time fashion. The help functionality can perform this task by providing a see-through panel which is presented on top of an application interface provided by the primary application. A user can move a mark on the see-through panel to identify features of the application interface concerning which he or she may have questions. The help functionality responds by presenting potentially context-sensitive help information to the user in audio mode and/or visual mode. If the visual mode is selected, the help functionality can present the help information on the see-through panel itself, and/or can dynamically move parts of the application interface to accommodate the display of the help information. The help functionality can supply the help information from a local source and/or a remote source, in an automated manner and/or a manual manner (e.g., using a remote human assistant).
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for presenting help information to a user, comprising:
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providing an application interface generated by a primary application, wherein the application interface includes at least one user interface feature associated therewith;
providing a help selection mechanism that overlays the application interface, which allows the user to request help information regarding said at least one user interface feature;
receiving a help request from the user via the help selection mechanism; and
presenting the help information to the user, in response to the received help request, in a manner which allows the user to continue interacting with the primary application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus for presenting help information to a user, comprising:
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a display device;
logic configured to provide an application interface, generated by a primary application, on the display device, wherein the application interface includes at least one user interface feature associated therewith;
logic configured to provide a help selection mechanism that overlays the application interface, which allows the user to request help information regarding said at least one user interface feature;
logic configured to receive a help request from the user via the help selection mechanism; and
logic configured to present the help information to the user, in response to the received help request, in a manner which allows the user to continue interacting with the primary application. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A system for presenting help information to a user, comprising:
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an assistance center configured to supply help information to the user;
a coupling mechanism;
at least one apparatus coupled to the assistance center via the coupling mechanism;
wherein said at least one apparatus comprises;
a display device;
logic configured to provide an application interface, generated by a primary application, on the display device, wherein the application interface includes at least one user interface feature associated therewith;
logic configured to provide a help selection mechanism that overlays the application interface, which allows the user to request help information regarding said at least one user interface feature;
logic configured to receive a help request from the user via the help selection mechanism; and
logic configured to receive the help information from the assistance center in response to the received help request;
logic configured to present the received help information to the user in a manner which allows the user to continue interacting with the primary application.
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Specification