System and method for providing help contents for components of a computer system

• US 7,506,257 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2000
• Issued: 03/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jacomet, Pierre, Chua, Ghim-Sim, Chavez, Anthony, Chandrashekar, Sridhar, Massarenti, Davide, Salman, Majeed D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chow; Dennis-Doon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Basom; Blaine T.
• Application Number:
  US09/607,374
• Time in Patent Office: 3,182 Days
• Field of Search: 345/705, 345/712, 345/713, 345/749, 345/740, 345/714, 707/104.1, 717/168, 717/171, 726/21, 714/37, 714/38, 715/705, 715/712, 715/713, 715/749, 715/740, 715/714
• US Class Current: 715/714
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44552 Conflict resolution, i.e. enabling coexistence of conflicting executables
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A system and method for providing help contents uses a framework for unified help access that provides a single point of entry through which a user may access help contents relating to all system software and hardware components. The help contents from different sources are organized into a taxonomy structure that allows a user to navigate easily to locate relevant help topics. The contents of the help topics may reside locally or be accessible over the Internet, and may contain static as well as active components. The unified help framework is extensible, allowing the help topics and the taxonomy to be updated by means of update packages. The application for providing the unified presentation of help topics may be launched by a user as well as from programs.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for execution on a computer for presenting a plurality of help topics for software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer, comprising:

a help content store for storing help contents for the help topics, the help content store having a plurality of separate vendor folders corresponding to different vendors of a plurality of different software components installed on the computer and a plurality of different hardware components installed on the computer, each vendor folder containing help contents of respective help topics provided by a corresponding vendor, the help contents usable by a unified taxonomy structure of help categories and help topics, wherein a first vendor corresponds to a first component selected from the plurality of different software components and the plurality of different hardware components and a second vendor corresponds to a second component selected from the plurality of different software components and the plurality of different hardware components, the first vendor and the second vendor being included in the different vendors;

a help database containing mapping data for mapping the help topics from the different vendors into the unified taxonomy structure of help categories and help topics, the unified taxonomy structure being common to and inclusive of the help topics provided by the different vendors, and a first level of categories and a second level of categories in the unified taxonomy structure being predefined, static, and used by all the different vendors of software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer, the mapping data including data for each help topic for identifying a node position of said each help topic in the unified taxonomy structure and a location of corresponding help content of said each help topic in the help content store;

a help content update module for updating the help contents in the help content store and the mapping data in the help database based on update packets received from the vendors;

a help application for providing a user interface for presenting the help topics to a user, the help application being programmed to interactively display the unified taxonomy structure using the mapping data in the help database and the help contents in the content store, including displaying the help categories and the help topics in the unified taxonomy structure in response to user selections, retrieving a user-selected help topic contents, and displaying the user-selected help topic contents; and

a script library for storing a plurality of script library objects used in the help contents of the help topics stored in the help content store, wherein the script library objects are operative to collect system operation information, and upload the system operation information to a vendor associated with the script library object; and

an authorization store for storing information identifying which of the help contents are authorized to access the script library objects, wherein accessing the script library objects comprises accessing at least one of the following;

a local database, and a remote database, wherein accessing the remote database requires that a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the remote database is listed in a local content store.

2. A computer-readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the help application is further programmed to check the authorization store to determine whether the help content of the user-selected help topic is allowed to access the script library objects.

3. A computer-readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the mapping data for each help topic include a parent ID identifying a parent node of said each help topic in the unified taxonomy structure, and a URL identifying a location of the help content of said each help topic in the help content store.

4. A computer-readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the help content update module is programmed to add, move, and remove help topics from the unified taxonomy structure by updating the mapping data in the help database.

5. A computer-readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the help database contains data specifying a search keyword associated with said each help topic.

6. A computer-readable medium as in claim 5, wherein the help database contains data specifying an index string associated with said each help topic.

7. A computer-readable medium as in claim 6, wherein the user interface provided by the help application includes an interface element presenting an option to view index strings of the help topics.

8. A computer-readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the help contents of the help topics are written in a mark-up language.

9. A computer comprising:

a plurality of software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer;

a help content store for storing help contents for help topics for software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer, the help content store having a plurality of separate vendor folders corresponding to different vendors of the software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer, each vendor folder containing help contents of respective help topics provided by a corresponding vendor, the help contents usable by a unified taxonomy structure of help categories and help topics, wherein a first vendor corresponds to a first component selected from the plurality of different software components and the plurality of different hardware components and a second vendor corresponds to a second component selected from the plurality of different software components and the plurality of different hardware components, the first vendor and the second vendor being included in the different vendors;

a help database containing mapping data for mapping the help topics from the different vendors into the unified taxonomy structure of help categories and help topics, the unified taxonomy structure being common to and inclusive of the help topics provided by the different vendors, and a first level of categories and a second level of categories in the unified taxonomy structure being predefined, static, and used by all the different vendors of software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer, the mapping data including data for each help topic for identifying a node position of said each help topic in the unified taxonomy structure and a location of corresponding help content of said each help topic in the help content store, the mapping data stored in a mapping data file including an action field configurable to include data to indicate whether the contents or mapping of the topics are to be at least one of the following;

added, removed, and updated;

a help content update module for updating the help contents in the help content store and the mapping data in the help database based on update packets received from the vendors;

a help application for providing a user interface for presenting the help topics to a user, the help application being programmed to interactively display the unified taxonomy structure using the mapping data in the help database and the help contents in the content store, including displaying the help categories and the help topics in the unified taxonomy structure in response to user selections, retrieving a user-selected help topic contents, and displaying the user-selected help topic contents; and

a script library for storing a plurality of script library objects used in the help contents of the help topics stored in the help content store, wherein the script library objects are operative to collect system operation information, and upload the system operation information to a vendor associated with the script library object; and

an authorization store for storing information identifying which of the help contents are authorized to access the script library objects, wherein accessing the script library objects comprises accessing at least one of the following;

a local database, and a remote database, wherein accessing the remote database requires that a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the remote database is listed in a local content store.

10. A computer as in claim 9, wherein the help application is further programmed to check the authorization store to determine whether the help content of the user-selected help topic is allowed to access the script library objects.

11. A computer as in claim 9, wherein the mapping data for each help topic includes a parent ID identifying a parent node of said each help topic in the unified taxonomy structure and a URL identifying a location of the help content of said each help topic in the help content store.

12. A computer as in claim 9, wherein the help content update module is programmed to add, move, and remove help topics from the unified taxonomy structure by updating the mapping data in the help database.

13. A computer as in claim 9, wherein the help database contains data specifying a search keyword associated with said each help topic.

14. A computer as in claim 13, wherein the help database contains data specifying an index string associated with said each help topic.

15. A computer as in claim 14, wherein the user interface provided by the help application includes an interface element presenting an option to view index strings of the help topics.

16. A computer comprising:

a plurality of software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer;

a help content store for storing help contents for help topics for software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer, the help content store having a plurality of separate vendor folders corresponding to different vendors of the software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer, each vendor folder containing help contents of respective help topics provided by a corresponding vendor, the help contents usable by a unified taxonomy structure of help categories and help topics, wherein a first vendor corresponds to a first component selected from the plurality of different software components and the plurality of different hardware components and a second vendor corresponds to a second component selected from the plurality of different software components and the plurality of different hardware components, the first vendor and the second vendor being included in the different vendors;

a help database containing mapping data for mapping the help topics from the different vendors into the unified taxonomy structure of help categories and help topics, the unified taxonomy structure being common to and inclusive of the help topics provided by the different vendors, and a first level of categories and a second level of categories in the unified taxonomy structure being predefined, static, and used by all the different vendors of software components installed on the computer and hardware components installed on the computer, the mapping data including data for each help topic for identifying a node position of said each help topic in the unified taxonomy structure and a location of corresponding help content of said each help topic in the help content store, the mapping data stored in a mapping data file including an action field configurable to include data to indicate whether the contents or mapping of the topics are to be at least one of the following;

added, removed, and updated, wherein the mapping data for said each help topic includes a parent ID identifying a parent node of said each help topic in the unified taxonomy structure and a URL identifying a location of the help content of said each help topic in the help content store;

a help content update module for updating the help contents in the help content store and the mapping data in the help database based on update packets received from the vendors, wherein the help database contains data specifying a search keyword associated with said each help topic and contains data specifying an index string associated with said each help topic, wherein the help content update module is programmed to perform at least one of the following;

add the help topics, move the help topics, and remove the help topics from the unified taxonomy structure by updating the mapping data in the help database;

a help application for providing a user interface for presenting the help topics to a user, wherein the user interface provided by the help application includes an interface element presenting an option to view index strings of the help topics, the help application being programmed to interactively display the unified taxonomy structure using mapping data in the help database and help contents in the content store, wherein the help application being programmed to interactively display the unified taxonomy structure displays the help categories and the help topics in the unified taxonomy structure in response to user selections, retrieving help contents of a user-selected help topic, and displaying the help content of the user-selected help topic;

a script library for storing a plurality of script library objects used in the help contents of the help topics stored in the help content store, wherein the script library objects are operative to collect system operation information, and upload the system operation information to a vendor associated with the script library object; and

an authorization store for storing information identifying which of the help contents are authorized to access the script library objects, wherein accessing the script library objects comprises accessing at least one of the following;

a local database, and a remote database, wherein accessing the remote database requires that a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the remote database is listed in a local content store.