PRESENTATION OF MULTIPLE SOURCES OF APPLICATION GUIDANCE INFORMATION

• US 20130117668A1
• Filed: 11/08/2011
• Published: 05/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Joseph, Joshy, Hogg, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 9,952,659 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer G06F3/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal

Abstract

A product guidance system is described herein that provides consistent methods and processes to aggregate product guidance from different online (and potentially local) sources, to ensure that the guidance aggregation is done with proper quality criteria (e.g., content/author reputation), to define how guidance is aggregated and presented appropriately for the context (e.g., a novice user may see different UI experience and different content than an advanced user), and to specify how the guidance is delivered within the product surface itself. The system defines a consistent information asset type meta-model, applies a semantic approach and algorithms to aggregate guidance content from varying sources and deliver through consistent interfaces, and provides an asset and user interface composition model to present the retrieved information following flexible categorization and navigation schemes. Thus, the product guidance system helps product teams deliver the right information, within the right context, and within the product surface.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to request at a client software product help information in accordance with a guidance information model, the method comprising:

receiving at the client a request from a user of a software product to display guidance related to using the software product;

determining at the client context information associated with the received request that identifies one or more qualities related to the user or a current task the user is performing;

sending from the client a guidance request to a server that aggregates updated guidance information from one or more guidance data sources, wherein the request includes the determined context information so that the server can provide context-sensitive guidance;

receiving a guidance response from the server that includes guidance information specific to the determined context and composition information for displaying the guidance information;

formatting the received guidance information according to composition information contained in the guidance response and format information associated with the guidance information model;

displaying the formatted guidance information to the user to help the user accomplish the current task,

wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request from the user comprises detecting that the user entered a search in a help query area.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining context information comprises determining where in the software product the user is currently located.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining context information comprises determining information specific to the user, including at least one of the user'"'"'s skill level, experience with the software product, age, and special needs of the user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the guidance request comprises sending the request to a server process running on the same computer system as the client.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the guidance request comprises sending the request to a central server accessible by multiple clients.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the guidance response comprises receiving guidance information that adheres to a guidance information model agreed upon by the client and server.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the guidance model agreed upon between client and server is negotiated dynamically through one or more metadata exchanges.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, at the client aggregating additional guidance data and combining local guidance results with guidance information received inform the server in the guidance response.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein formatting the received guidance information comprises mapping one or more specific topic and asset types with particular formatting attributes, so that topics or assets of a particular type are each displayed in a similar way.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein formatting the received guidance information comprises defining areas of the display where particular topic types are allowed to paint data, and wherein composition information includes markup or other metadata from the server defining how to display guidance information.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving user feedback related to the quality of the guidance, and providing the received user feedback to the server.

13. A computer system for presentation of multiple sources of application guidance information, the system comprising:

a processor and memory configured to execute software instructions embodied within the following components;

a data model that includes software components and data definitions to allow a client and server to communicate and understand a generic, standard model for software guidance information, wherein the model comprises a content data store that stores defined topics, assets, and packages for request from the client.

a context detection component that detects a context that describes information related to a task an end user is currently performing within a software product;

a guidance retrieval component that requests guidance information from the server and provides the detected context from the client; and

a user interface composition component that determines how to compose different tasks for display that a user will perform using the composition model, instantiates one or more related display views to collect user inputs, and displays the guidance information to the end user.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the data model defines one or more available types of help information, how the types can be requested, and how the types are displayed by the client.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the context detection component detects at least one of where in the product the user is currently interacting, a goal of the user'"'"'s current actions, and information about the user.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the guidance retrieval component receives information for displaying the content, including markup or other metadata and wherein the user interface composition component determines how to display content based on model and type information provided in the guidance information.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the user interface composition component maps guidance information to particular regions of a display designated for particular types of content.

18. The system of claim 13 further comprising a quality voting component that receives feedback from the end user related to the quality of the received guidance content and provides the feedback to the server.

19. The system of claim 13 further comprising a local aggregation component that aggregates data from multiple sources at the client and combines the aggregated data with guidance information received from the server.

20. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for controlling a computer system to define a product guidance model for a particular software product, wherein the instructions, upon execution, cause a processor to perform actions comprising:

displaying an authoring environment to a guidance author for defining a guidance content model;

receiving one or more topic definitions that define individual guidance topics for which an end user can receive information;

grouping the received topic definitions into related segments;

receiving one or more asset definitions based on the grouped topic definitions;

grouping the received asset definitions to define a package of assets;

receiving a guidance composition model that defines how assets within the defined package will be displayed by a client; and

storing a guidance model that includes the defined topics, assets, asset package, and composition model in a data store accessible from a client and a server, so that the client and server can communicate guidance information that adheres to the model.