Help provision in a data processing system
First Claim
1. A data processing system comprising:
- means for displaying panels of information relating to at least one task, the panels being viewable through at least one window;
operator input means for providing interactive communication with the system including means for identifying the displayed information including a visible indicator, viewable on said display means for identifying selectable information;
means for communicating, associated with said visible indicator, an operator selection to the system and, for requesting help information from the system;
an addressable store of hierarchical help text information;
contextual help means responsive to a request for help and to a current state of the system, defined by plural system state variables, to access the help text store and obtain appropriate help text and display said help text through one of said windows, said system state variables being ranked based on the current system state, and hierarchical help text information having corresponding help text is displayed such that specific system state variables are associated with low order help text and often system state variables are associated with high order help text;
help map display means for displaying in a separate window, concurrently with said help text and information relating to the at least one task, at least a portion of a hierarchical map of the stored help text corresponding to a current one of the system state variables; and
means for replacing the help text in the help text window with help text corresponding to the a selected entry from said help map.
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Abstract
Help is provided to the user of a data processing system having a work station, including a display, and input means including a visible on-screen indicator and a selection means, in response to a request from the user, information on the current state of the system is used to address a store of hierarchical help text information, thereby providing contextual help text which is displayed in a separate window on the display screen alongside information related to the task in hand. A help map function is available which displays concurrently, separately from the help text, a portion of a hierarchical map of the stored help text to be replaced by new help text corresponding to the selected map entry.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A data processing system comprising:
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means for displaying panels of information relating to at least one task, the panels being viewable through at least one window; operator input means for providing interactive communication with the system including means for identifying the displayed information including a visible indicator, viewable on said display means for identifying selectable information; means for communicating, associated with said visible indicator, an operator selection to the system and, for requesting help information from the system; an addressable store of hierarchical help text information; contextual help means responsive to a request for help and to a current state of the system, defined by plural system state variables, to access the help text store and obtain appropriate help text and display said help text through one of said windows, said system state variables being ranked based on the current system state, and hierarchical help text information having corresponding help text is displayed such that specific system state variables are associated with low order help text and often system state variables are associated with high order help text; help map display means for displaying in a separate window, concurrently with said help text and information relating to the at least one task, at least a portion of a hierarchical map of the stored help text corresponding to a current one of the system state variables; and means for replacing the help text in the help text window with help text corresponding to the a selected entry from said help map. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of presenting help information in a data processing system, comprising:
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displaying panels, viewable through a window, of information relating to at least one task; providing interactive operator communication with said data processing system, providing an addressable store of hierarchical help text information by identifying items displayed on a screen of a display within said data processing system by selecting said items with a variable indicator, communicating the operator selected items to the data processing system and requesting help information from the data processing system; obtaining and displaying appropriate help text from said addressable store; concurrently displaying said appropriate help text, the information relating to the at least one task and at least a portion of a hierarchical help map, corresponding to a current state of said system as defined by plural system state variables, said system state variables being ranked based on the current system state and hierarchical help text information, associated with said hierarchical help map, having corresponding help text displayed such that specific system state variables are associated with low order help text and other system state variables are associated with high order help text; and replacing the help text currently displayed with help text corresponding to a selected entry from said hierarchical help map. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer program implanted on a data processing system and for controlling said data processing system to display help information to a user of said system, comprising:
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means for displaying panels, viewable through a window, of information relating to at least one task; interactive operator communication means for providing operator input to said data processing system to identify items displayed on a display screen within said data processing system by selecting said display items, to communicate the selected items to said data processing system and for requesting help information from the data processing system; an addressable store of hierarchical help text information; means for obtaining and displaying appropriate help text from said addressable store; means for concurrently displaying said appropriate help text, information relating to the at least one task and at least a portion of a hierarchical help map, corresponding to a current state of said system as defined by plural system state variables, said system state variables being ranked based on the current system state and hierarchical help text information having corresponding help text is displayed such that specific system state variables are associated with low order help text and specific system state variables are associated with high order help text; and means for replacing the help text currently displayed with help text corresponding to a selected entry from said hierarchical help map. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification