PRIORITIZATION OF CHOICES BASED ON CONTEXT AND USER HISTORY

• US 20110119628A1
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Clark, David J., Klinger, Doina, Partridge, Lucas, Carter, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 8,490,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/812
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups

Abstract

A method comprises identifying, by a computing device, a current context of a computer program; identifying, by the computing device, any related contexts of the computer program that are related to the current context; determining, by the computing device, association relationships between the current context and the related contexts; determining, by the computing device, a user history of menu choice selection with respect to the current context; updating, by the computing device, the user history based on a user menu choice selection and the association relationships; determining, by the computing device, weighted menu choices for a second context of the computer program based on the user history; and presenting, by the graphic user interface, the weighted menu choices for selection by the user in the second context.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices for selection by a user presented by a computer program in a graphic user interface, said method comprising:

identifying, by a computing device, a current context of a computer program;

identifying, by said computing device, any related contexts of said computer program that are related to said current context;

determining, by said computing device, association relationships between said current context and said related contexts;

determining, by said computing device, a user history of menu choice selection with respect to said current context;

updating, by said computing device, said user history based on a user menu choice selection and said association relationships;

determining, by said computing device, weighted menu choices for a second context of said computer program based on said user history; and

presenting, by said graphic user interface, said weighted menu choices for selection by said user in said second context.

2. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 1, further comprising filtering said weighted menu choices to select a smaller number of weighted menu choices to present for selection to said user.

3. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 1, further comprising sorting said weighted menu choices to order most likely choices at a top of a list to present for selection to said user.

4. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 1, said presenting comprising graphically displaying said weighted menu choices and differentiating said weighted menu choices by changing at least one of a text size, a text color, a font and a text style of said weighted menu choices.

5. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 1, wherein said current context comprises one of a logical context, a personal context and an environmental context,

wherein said logical context corresponds to one of an application perspective, view and item,

wherein said personal context corresponds to one of a user preference, a level of experience, and a user physical trait, and

wherein said environmental context corresponds to one of a day of the week, a user location, a user work environment and hardware said user is utilizing.

6. A computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices for selection by a user presented by an application in a graphic user interface, said method comprising:

identifying said user and a first computer program using a computer;

determining a current context of said first computer program using said computer, wherein said current context comprises one of a logical context, a personal context, and an environmental context;

identifying related contexts of said first computer program that are related to said current context using said computer;

determining association relationships between said related contexts and said current context using said computer;

determining a first user history of menu choice selection with respect to said first computer program using said computer;

determining, by said computing device, additional user histories of menu choice selections with respect to said related contexts;

updating, by said computing device, said first user history and said additional user histories based on a user menu choice selection and said association relationships;

determining weighted menu choices for a second computer program different than said first computer program using said computer based on at least one of said first user history and said additional user histories; and

outputting said weighted menu choices using said computer for selection to said user in said second computer program.

7. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 6, wherein said identifying of said current context is based on one of user identification, application identification and a specific time.

8. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 6, wherein said determining said user history of menu choice selection further comprises providing information on one of said current context of said first computer program, a choice that has been selected, a time of selection, and an identity of said user.

9. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 8, wherein said identifying of said user comprises obtaining information on one of an operating system of said computer, an authenticated application user identification, and a web site user registration.

10. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 6, said logical context corresponding to one of an application perspective, view and item;

said personal context corresponding to one of a user preference, a level of experience, and a user physical trait; and

said environmental context corresponding to one of a day of the week, a user location, a user work environment and hardware said user is utilizing.

11. A computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices for selection by a user presented by a computer program in graphic user interface, said method comprising:

identifying a current context of a computer program using a computer, wherein said current context comprises one of a logical context, a personal context, and an environmental context;

identifying related contexts of said computer program that are related to said current context using said computer;

determining association relationships between said related contexts and said current context using said computer;

determining user choices associated with said current context using said computer;

identifying association relationships between said current context and said related contexts using said computer;

incrementing, using said computer, a first user history selection value for one of said user choices by a fixed value based on user selection;

incrementing, using said computer, a second user history selection value for said user choice in said related contexts by said fixed value based on said association relationships between said current context and said identified contexts;

determining a context weighting for said related contexts using said computer based on cumulative user history selection values for said current contexts;

determining weighted menu choices for said computer program using said computer based on said cumulative user history; and

outputting said weighted menu choices using said computer for selection to said user in said computer program.

12. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 11, further comprising filtering said weighted menu choices to select a smaller number of weighted menu choices to present for selection to said user.

13. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 11, further comprising sorting said weighted menu choices to order most likely choices at a top of a list to present for selection to said user.

14. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 11, further comprising graphically displaying said weighted menu choices and differentiating said weighted menu choices by changing at least one of a text size, a text color, a font and a text style of said weighted menu choices.

15. The computer-implemented method of prioritizing choices according to claim 11, said logical context corresponding to one of said application perspective, view and item;

said personal context corresponding to one of a user preference, a level of experience, and a user physical trait; and

said environmental context corresponding to one of a day of the week, a user location, a user work environment and hardware said user is utilizing.

16. A computer program product for prioritizing choices for selection by a user presented by a computer program in a graphic user interface, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code being configured to perform a method comprising;

identifying a current context of a computer program;

identifying any related contexts of said computer program that are related to said current context;

determining association relationships between said current context and said related contexts;

determining a user history of menu choice selection with respect to said current context;

updating first user history based on a user menu choice selection and said association relationships;

determining weighted menu choices for a second context of said computer program based on said user history; and

presenting said weighted menu choices for selection by said user in said second context.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16, said method further comprising filtering said weighted menu choices to select a smaller number of weighted menu choices to present for selection to said user.

18. The computer program product according to claim 16, said method further comprising sorting said weighted menu choices to order most likely choices at a top of a list to present for selection to said user.

19. The computer program product according to claim 16, said presenting comprising graphically displaying said weighted menu choices and differentiating said weighted menu choices by changing at least one of a text size, a text color, a font and a text style of said weighted menu choices.

20. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein said current context comprises one of a logical context, a personal context and an environmental context,

wherein said logical context corresponds to one of an application perspective, view and item,

wherein said personal context corresponds to one of a user preference, a level of experience, and a user physical trait, and

wherein said environmental context corresponds to one of a day of the week, a user location, a user work environment and hardware said user is utilizing.