Adaptive systems and methods for making software easy to use via software usage mining

• US 20060242638A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Katariya, Sanjeev, Kim, Pyungchul, Zheng, Zijian, Lew, Sin Shyh
• Granted Patent: US 7,802,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A system for dynamically updating user accessible features of a software application on a client computer has a user interface, a local usage data file, and a data mining engine. The user interface is adapted to receive operator inputs. The local usage data file is adapted to store usage information corresponding to the operator inputs. The data mining engine is adapted to process the stored usage information and to generate local adjustments to a user interface of the software application based on the operator inputs. In one embodiment, a server is adapted to receive usage data from a plurality of application instances on a plurality of client computers and to generate global adjustments based on the received usage data. In one embodiment, the system has a merge feature adapted to blend and resolve conflicts between local and global adjustments to generate an interface adjustment for the user interface.

Claims

1. A system for dynamically updating user accessible features of a software application on a client computer, the system comprising:

a user interface adapted to receive operator inputs;

a local usage data file adapted to store usage information corresponding to the operator inputs; and

a data mining engine adapted to process the stored usage information and to generate local adjustments to a user interface of the software application based on the operator inputs.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a server adapted to receive usage data from a plurality of application instances on a plurality of client computers and to store the received usage data in a global usage log; and

a global data mining engine adapted to process the stored usage data and periodically to generate global adjustments based on the stored usage data for adjusting the user interface of each of the plurality of application instances.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the data mining engine is adapted to analyze the usage data according to a predetermined data mining algorithm.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a local merging feature adapted to blend and resolve conflicts between local adjustments and global adjustments to generate an interface adjustment for the user interface of the application on a client system.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the interface adjustment comprises:

a macro for minimizing steps required of an operator to perform an operation within the user interface of the application.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the data mining engine is adapted to provide usage information to a server over a network based on an operator selection.

7. A system for updating a user interface of a software application based on global usage data, the system comprising:

a server coupled to a network and adapted to receive usage information over the network based on operator interactions with the user interface of each of a plurality of application instances of the software application;

a global usage log for storing the received usage information; and

a data mining engine adapted to process the stored usage information and to generate global adjustments to the user interface of each of the plurality of application instances based on the stored usage information.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising:

a client device coupled to the server over the network, the client device having an application instance of the software application, the client device adapted to store usage information corresponding to operator interactions with the user interface of the software application in a local usage log and in the global usage log, the client device adapted to process the data in the local usage log and to generate local adjustments to the user interface based on the operator inputs.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the client device is adapted to merge the global adjustments and the local adjustments into an interface adjustment and to update the user interface based on the interface adjustment.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the interface adjustment comprises a macro adapted to minimize a number of steps required of a user to execute a function within the user interface.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the data mining engine is adapted to process the global usage data using a data mining algorithm.

12. The system of claim 8 further comprising:

a global macros data file stored on the server, the global macros data file comprising a plurality of global adjustments.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the global macros data file is accessible for download to each of the plurality of application instances of the software application based on operator interactions with the user interface.

14. A system for dynamically improving a user interface of a software application comprising:

client devices coupled to a network and adapted to operate software programs, each client device having a software application with a user interface, the software application adapted to record operator interactions with the user interface and optionally to generate a usage output based on the recorded operator interactions, each client device adapted to generate local adjustments to the user interface based on the recorded operator interactions;

a server coupled to each of the client devices over the network and adapted to receive the usage output from the client devices, the server adapted to process the received usage output and to generate global updates to the user interface based on the received usage output; and

a merge feature on each client device adapted to receive the global updates and to merge the global updates with the local adjustments to update the user interface.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein each client device comprises:

a local data mining engine adapted to process the recorded operator interactions to identify patterns and frequently used features of the user interface.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein each client device further comprises:

a macro generator adapted to generate macros and user interface adjustments based on the identified patterns and frequently used features.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the server comprises:

a global data mining engine adapted to process the received usage output and to generate global updates to the user interface.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the server further comprises:

a global macros file adapted to store the global updates.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the global macros file is accessible for download to each client device over the network based on operator interactions with the user interface.

20. The system of claim 14 wherein the merge feature is adapted to blend and resolve conflicts between local adjustments and global updates to update the user interface.