SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A CONTEXT-SENSITIVE USER INTERFACE

• US 20120166929A1
• Filed: 12/28/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Henderson, Roderick C., Hind, John R., Li, Yongchen
• Application Number:
  US12/980,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20120166929A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments disclose a method and system for providing a context-sensitive user interface. The method and system include dynamically creating an ontology by storing data values entered by different users from the same or different computers into fields of at least one form, where the data values stored in the ontology includes both verified data that has been verified by at least one workflow, and unverified data that has not been verified by the at least one workflow; in response to a current user interacting with a current form, retrieving from the ontology the data values made by the different users and presenting the retrieved data values to the current user as autocomplete suggestions, where the autocomplete suggestions includes the verified data and the unverified data; dynamically adjusting the autocomplete suggestions for the current user of the current form as new data values of other users are received and stored in the ontology; and distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data using at least one of a visual representation and an audio representation of the quality of the autocomplete suggestions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a context-sensitive user interface, comprising:

dynamically creating an ontology by storing data values entered by different users from the same or different computers into fields of at least one form, where the data values stored in the ontology includes both verified data that has been verified by at least one workflow, and unverified data that has not been verified by the at least one workflow;

in response to a current user interacting with a current form, retrieving from the ontology the data values made by the different users and presenting the retrieved data values to the current user as autocomplete suggestions, where the autocomplete suggestions includes the verified data and the unverified data;

dynamically adjusting the autocomplete suggestions for the current user of the current form as new data values of other users are received and stored in the ontology; and

distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data using at least one of a visual representation and an audio representation of a quality of the autocomplete suggestions.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in response to the current user selecting the unverified data from the autocomplete suggestions as an auto-fill form-entry, presenting the current user with a request to confirm use of the unverified data in the current form.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein, presenting to the current user a request to confirm use of the unverified data further comprises displaying a confirmation box.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating statistics that identify correlations between the data values entered by the different users and using the statistics to determine which data values form the ontology to make available as the autocomplete suggestions.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data using a visual representation of the quality of the autocomplete suggestions comprises using at least one of a highlight, a graphic, an icon, a picture or text;

6. The method of claim 1 wherein distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data using an audio representation of the quality of the autocomplete suggestions comprises using an audio tone.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the statistics to determine whether the verified data is in-context with the current user or with the fields related to a current field the current user is entering, or is out-of-context, and wherein the distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data as autocomplete suggestions further comprises:

presenting in-context verified data as the autocomplete suggestions without highlighting; and

presenting out-of-context verified data and the unverified data as the autocomplete suggestions with different types of highlighting.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the retrieved data values to the current user as autocomplete suggestions further comprises presenting the autocomplete suggestions to the current user in substantially real-time.

9. An executable software product stored on a computer-readable medium containing program instructions for providing a context-sensitive user interface, the program instructions for:

dynamically creating an ontology by storing data values entered by different users from the same or different computers into fields of at least one form, where the data values stored in the ontology includes both verified data that has been verified by at least one workflow, and unverified data that has not been verified by the at least one workflow;

in response to a current user interacting with a current form, retrieving from the ontology the data values made by the different users and presenting the retrieved data values to the current user as autocomplete suggestions, where the autocomplete suggestions includes the verified data and the unverified data;

dynamically adjusting the autocomplete suggestions for the current user of the current form as new data values of other users are received and stored in the ontology; and

distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data using at least one of a visual representation and an audio representation of the quality of the autocomplete suggestions.

10. The executable software product of claim 9 further comprising, in response to the current user selecting the unverified data from the autocomplete suggestions as an auto-fill form-entry, presenting the current user with a request to confirm use of the unverified data in the current form.

11. The executable software product of claim 10 wherein, presenting to the current user a request to confirm use of the unverified data further comprises displaying a confirmation box.

12. The executable software product of claim 9 further comprising generating statistics that identify correlations between the data values entered by the different users and using the statistics to determine which data values form the ontology to make available as the autocomplete suggestions.

13. The executable software product of claim 9 wherein distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data using a visual representation of the quality of the autocomplete suggestions comprises using at least one of a highlight, a graphic, an icon, a picture or text.

14. The executable software product of claim 9 wherein distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data using an audio representation of the quality of the autocomplete suggestions comprises using an audio tone.

15. The executable software product of claim 9 further comprising using the statistics to determine whether the verified data is in-context with the current user or with the fields related to a current field the current user is entering, or is out-of-context, and wherein the distinguishing the unverified data from the verified data as autocomplete suggestions further comprises:

presenting in-context verified data as the autocomplete suggestions without highlighting; and

presenting out-of-context verified data and the unverified data as the autocomplete suggestions with different types of highlighting.

16. The executable software product of claim 9 wherein presenting the retrieved data values to the current user as autocomplete suggestions further comprises presenting the autocomplete suggestions to the current user in substantially real-time.

17. A system comprising:

a server coupled to a network;

an ontology accessible by the server, the ontology storing data values entered by different users from the same or different computers into fields of at least one form, where the data values stored in the ontology includes both verified data that has been verified by at least one workflow, and unverified data that has not been verified by the at least one workflow;

a client application executing on a computer coupled to the network in communication with the server, the client application and the server in combination configured to,

in response to a current user interacting with a current form, retrieve from the ontology the data values made by the different users and present the retrieved data values to the current user as autocomplete suggestions, where the autocomplete suggestions includes the verified data and the unverified data;

dynamically adjust the autocomplete suggestions for the current user of the current form as new data values of other users are received and stored in the ontology; and

distinguish the unverified data from the verified data as autocomplete suggestions using at least one of a visual representation and an audio representation of a quality of the autocomplete suggestions.

18. A computer-implemented method for context-sensitive user interface, comprising:

dynamically creating an ontology by,

storing in the ontology data entered by different users into fields of at least one form during at least one workflow, the data stored in the ontology including both data verified by the at least one workflow, and unverified data;

generating statistics that identify correlations between the data entered by the different users, and

using the statistics to present in real-time to a current user interacting with the at least one form autocomplete suggestions based on the verified data and the unverified data;

highlighting the autocomplete suggestions that comprise the unverified data; and

in response to the current user selecting the unverified data as an auto-fill form entry, presenting to the current user a request for verification of the auto-fill form entry.