Method and system for a programmatic feedback process for end-user support

• US 6,393,490 B1
• Filed: 12/18/1997
• Issued: 05/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Knowlix Corp (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Ahlstrom, Paul B., Stiles, Ian James
• Primary Examiner(s): Martin-Wallace, Valencia
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHERUBIN, YVESTE GILBERTE
• Application Number:
  US08/993,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20020032802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,615 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/313, 709/310, 379/15, 707/10, 714/38, 714/37, 714/31, 714/33, 714/340, 714/15, 345/326
• US Class Current: 719/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/366 using diagnostics G06F11/0703 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software

Abstract

A method for supporting the end-user of a software application program is provided, wherein the end-user is provided the capability of communicating directly with the application program vendor and/or developer to request enhancement, provide comments, report defects and/or to ask questions. Moreover, this method provides an automatic communication that provides the developer of an application program such critical information as usage of program or document information, defects, and user comments. This invention provides a technique that minimizes the load and/or requirements for specially trained customer service personnel while simultaneously decreasing the feed-back lag time, thereby providing information, which is sufficiently timely to aid in the improvement of the quality of application software.

Claims

1. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, comprising the steps of:

(A) testing whether a user has initiated communication and if the user has initiated communication providing a dialog display for the user'"'"'s addition of comments;

(B) testing whether an event timer has fired and if said event timer has fired appending a document usage event to a message;

(C) testing whether a programmatic failure has occurred and if a programmatic failure has occurred appending a application event log to said message;

(D) testing whether the process of an application program has ended and if the process of an application program has ended terminating the execution of this process;

(E) detecting a particular usage of a document, wherein said detected usage is a usage selected from the group consisting of viewing, copying, printing, e-mailing, linking from another document, jumping through said document, and searching said document;

(F) logging said detected usage of a document;

(G) compiling statistics of said logged usage;

(H) sending a message communicating said logged detected usage of said document;

(I) receiving said sent message communicating said logged detected usage of said document; and

(J) storing said received message.

2. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, as recited in claim 1, wherein said detecting usage step further comprises detecting whether a particular document has been open for a predetermined period of time.

3. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, as recited in claim 1, wherein said detecting usage step further comprises detecting whether a portion of a particular document has been copied.

4. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, as recited in claim 1, wherein said detecting usage step further comprises detecting whether a portion of a particular document has been printed.

5. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, as recited in claim 1, wherein said detecting usage step further comprises detecting whether a portion of a particular document has been e-mailed.

6. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, as recited in claim 1, wherein said detecting usage step further comprises detecting whether a particular document has been searched.

7. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, comprising the steps of:

(A) testing whether a user has initiated communication, whether an event timer has fired, and whether a programmatic failure has occurred;

(B) detecting a defect in the execution of a computer application program;

(C) logging said detected defect;

(D) compiling statistics of said logged detected defect;

(E) sending a message communicating said logged defect from a user to a developer of said computer application program;

(F) receiving said sent message, by a developer of said computer application program, communicating said logged defect; and

(G) storing said received message.

8. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, as recited in claim 7, wherein said detecting defects step further comprises

(i) debugging the application program during program execution;

(ii) storing debugging steps to provide a history of the program defect for later reproduction; and

(iii) comparing said stored debugging steps with expected steps.

9. A method for enabling communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, comprising the steps of:

(A) testing whether a programmatic failure has occurred or a timer event has fired and appending an application event log to a message if a programmatic failure has occurred or appending a document usage event to a message if a timer event has fired;

(B) providing a user message interface to a computer application program;

(C) providing a communication dialog with a user through said message interface, wherein said communication dialog further comprises the steps of;

(i) providing an enhancement request function;

(ii) providing a comment message function;

(iii) providing a defect reporting function; and

(iv) providing an inquiry function;

(D) sending a user message from a user;

(E) receiving said user message by a developer; and

(F) storing said received message.

10. A system for providing communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, comprising:

(A) a user computer system, wherein said user computer system can execute an application program and wherein said user computer system sends a message, and wherein said message includes an appended application event log, to a monitoring computer system;

(B) a monitoring computer system for receiving a message from said user computer system wherein said monitoring computer system provides a communication link between a user of a computer application program and a developer of said computer application program; and

(C) a communication channel connecting said user computer system with said monitoring computer system.

11. A system for providing communication between users of computer application programs and developers of computer application programs, as recited in claim 10, wherein said communication channel comprises electronic mail.

12. A software program for receiving and processing communication messages between an application program user and an application program developer, the program comprising:

(A) a defect detection routine;

(B) a usage reporting routine, wherein said usage reporting routine provides reporting of events selected from the group consisting of viewing time, copy functions, printing, e-mailing, linking, jumping and searching in a document;

(C) a message managing routine providing a communication link between an application program user and an application program developer;

(D) a statistical analysis routine for analyzing defects, usage and messages reported; and

(E) a reporting routine for providing the application program developer information based on the statistical analysis provided by said statistical analysis routine.

13. A software program for receiving and processing communication messages between an application program user and an application program developer, as recited in claim 12 wherein said defect detection routine further comprises:

(i) a programmatic failure debugger for identifying programmatic failures;

(ii) a programmatic failure reporter for reporting programmatic failures; and

(iii) a communication handler for communicating programmatic failure reports to the application program developer.

14. A software program for receiving and processing communication messages between an application program user and an application program developer, as recited in claim 12, wherein said usage reporting routing frtther comprises:

(i) a usage timer;

(ii) a usage event document;

(iii) a communication message having said usage event document appended into said communication message;

.

15. A software program for receiving and processing communication messages between an application program user and an application program developer, as recited in claim 12, wherein said message managing routine further comprises:

(i) a routine for appending documents to a message;

(ii) a routine for sending said message to the application program developer;

(iii) a storage routine for storing said message in a digital computer; and

(iv) a database routine for comparing said appended documents to a history of past documents.