Adaptive hypermedia presentation method and system

• US 6,052,676 A
• Filed: 04/30/1998
• Issued: 04/18/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hekmatpour, Amir
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khatri, Anil
• Application Number:
  US09/070,548
• Time in Patent Office: 719 Days
• Field of Search: 706/45, 706/46, 706/11
• US Class Current: 706/11
• 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 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/065 Combinations of audio and video presentations, e.g. videotapes, videodiscs, television systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/04 characterised by modifying the teaching programme in response to a wrong answer, e.g. repeating the question, supplying a further explanation

Abstract

In a computer system comprising a hypermedia computing environment, the presentation of hypermedia objects is adapted to usage of the system. The frequency with which hypermedia objects are used is tracked and the objects are ordered such that the most frequently used hypermedia objects are made most accessible. The system also adapts to user characteristics such as user experience level, user disabilities and user preferences. For example, hypermedia objects inappropriate for beginner users are not displayed when a novice is using the system. Further, visual hypermedia objects are ordered ahead of audio hypermedia object for hearing impaired users.

Claims

1. In a hypermedia computing environment having a plurality of hypermedia objects, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, an adaptive method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) predefining a logical page to contain said plurality of hypermedia objects, said logical page comprising a framework for presentation of said hypermedia objects and management of information content of said hypermedia objects;

(b) automatically acquiring within the hypermedia computing environment a user based characteristic or a system utilization based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter for the logical page; and

(c) within the logical page, automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of at least one hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page in response to said adaptation parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects of said logical page contains a set of attributes, said set of attributes including at least some of:

an object content method (OCM) for initializing and updating content of the hypermedia object;

a display order (DO) representative of order of appearance of the hypermedia object within a window of the logical page;

a display order method (DOM) for initializing and updating the value of DO;

an activation frequency coefficient (AFC) representing frequency of hypermedia object activation;

an activation frequency coefficient method (AFCM) for initializing and updating the value of AFC; and

a hide condition (HC) for concealing the hypermedia object from a window of the logical page, and wherein said automatically adjusting step (c) comprises automatically adjusting at least one attribute of said set of attributes of at least one hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said predefining (a) comprises coding said plurality of hypermedia objects into said framework comprising said logical page.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said predefining step (a) comprises predefining said logical page to provide both physical correlation and logical correlation among hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said predefining step (a) comprises selecting said logical page from among a plurality of predefined logical pages, each logical page of said plurality of predefined logical pages comprising a different framework for presentation of hypermedia objects.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said logical page comprises control intelligence for automatically accomplishing said automatically acquiring step (b) and said automatically adjusting step (c) without user intervention.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically acquiring comprises determining a plurality of frequency of use characteristics for said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page, each frequency of use characteristic comprising an indication of frequency of use of one hypermedia object within the logical page.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said logical page comprises a set of windows to contain said plurality of hypermedia objects, and wherein said automatically adjusting step (c) comprises automatically adjusting within at least one window of said set of windows said at least one of information content or presentation of said at least one hypermedia object.

14. The system of claim 4, wherein said means for predefining comprises means for predefining said logical page to provide both physical correlation and logical correlation among hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects.

15. The system of claim 4, wherein said means for predefining comprises means for selecting said logical page from among a plurality of predefined logical page formats, each logical page format of said plurality of predefined logical page formats comprising a different framework for presentation of hypermedia objects.

16. The system of claim 4, wherein said logical page comprises hypermedia object control means, said hypermedia object control means comprising said means for automatically acquiring and said means for automatically adjusting.

17. The system of claim 4, wherein said means for automatically acquiring comprises means for determining a plurality of frequency of use characteristics for said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, each frequency of use characteristic comprising an indication of frequency of use of one hypermedia object within the logic page.

18. The system of claim 4, wherein said logical page comprises a set of windows to contain said plurality of hypermedia objects, and wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for automatically adjusting within at least one window of said set of windows said at least one of information content or presentation of said at least one hypermedia object.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein each window of said set of windows is dedicated to displaying hypermedia objects comprising one of text, picture, graphics, video animation, audio segments, glossary, or external application control information.

10. A hypermedia computing system having a plurality of hypermedia objects, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for predefining a logical page to contain said plurality of hypermedia objects, said logical pace comprising a framework for presentation of said hypermedia objects and management of information content of said hypermedia objects;

means for automatically acquiring a user based characteristic or a system utilization-based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter for the logical page; and

means for automatically adjusting within the logical page at least one of information content or presentation of at least one hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter.

9. The method of claim 12, wherein each window of said set of windows is dedicated to displaying hypermedia objects comprising one of text, picture, graphics, video animation, audio segments, glossary, or external application control information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects of said logical page contains a set of attributes, said set of attributes including at least some of:

an object content method (OCM) for initializing and updating content of the hypermedia object;

a display order (DO) representative of order of appearance of the hypermedia object within a window of the logical page;

a display order method (DOM) for initializing and updating the value of DO;

an activation frequency coefficient (AFC) representing frequency of hypermedia object activation;

an activation frequency coefficient method (AFCM) for initializing and updating the value of AFC; and

a hide condition (HC) for concealing the hypermedia object from a window of the logical page, and wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for automatically adjusting at least one attribute of the set of attributes of at least one hypermedia object within the logical page.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for automatically adjusting at least one attribute of each of at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said at least one attribute comprising content of the hypermedia object (OCM), display order (DO) within a window of the logical page, a frequency of use characteristic (AFC), or a hide condition (HC).

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said means for predefining comprises means for coding said plurality of hypermedia objects into said framework comprising said logical page.