EMBEDDED USER ASSISTANCE FOR SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

• US 20090183072A1
• Filed: 01/14/2008
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: O'Bryan, Scott Michael, Cooper, Matthew Clifton, Crawford, Gabrielle, Baggett, Harry William III, STEPHENSON, Jeffrey, Kaval, Maria Elisabeth, Shadian, Ritchard, Sullivan, Blake
• Granted Patent: US 11,366,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04895 Guidance during keyboard input operation, e.g. prompting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

A system for providing user assistance receives a request for user assistance from a component on a user interface. The component includes a help identifier, and the request is generated by a type of user selection, such as the clicking of an icon. The system determines a level of user assistance based on the type of selection and retrieves user assistance content based on the help identifier and the determined level of user assistance. In one embodiment, the user interface includes three levels of user assistance.

Claims

1. A method of providing user assistance comprising:

receiving a request for user assistance from a component on a user interface, wherein the component comprises a help identifier, and the request comprises a type of selection;

determining a level of user assistance based on the type of selection; and

retrieving a user assistance content based on the help identifier and the level of user assistance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the component comprises a help icon, and the type of selection comprises hovering a cursor over the help icon.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the type of selection comprises selecting the help icon with the cursor.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the component is adapted for user input.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the component is a text entry box, and the type of selection comprises focusing the cursor on the text entry box.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the component comprises a JavaServer Faces component.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user assistance content comprises embedded content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user assistance content comprises an external help system.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the embedded content comprises at least two levels of embedded content.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the help identifier comprises a topic id.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user assistance content comprises a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) file.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the HTML file comprise the user assistance content for all levels of user assistance.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the HTML file comprises a single HTML page and comprises one or more of the levels of help assistance embedded in the HTML page so that the embedded help assistance is not visible to a user when the page is viewed.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is generated by a native application.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is generated by web-based application.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a number of help levels and an identity of the help levels; and

rendering the user interface based on the number and identity of the help levels.

17. A system for providing user assistance comprising:

a processor;

a help provider module coupled to the processor, wherein the help provider module receives a request for user assistance from a component on a user interface, wherein the component comprises a help identifier, and the request comprises a type of selection;

wherein the help provider module determines a level of user assistance based on the type of selection and retrieves a user assistance content based on the help identifier and the level of user assistance.

18. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

receive a request for user assistance from a component on a user interface, wherein the component comprises a help identifier, and the request comprises a type of selection;

determine a level of user assistance based on the type of selection; and

retrieve a user assistance content based on the help identifier and the level of user assistance.

19. A system for providing user assistance comprising:

means for receiving a request for user assistance from a component on a user interface, wherein the component comprises a help identifier, and the request comprises a type of selection;

means for determining a level of user assistance based on the type of selection; and

means for retrieving a user assistance content based on the help identifier and the level of user assistance.