Adaptive systems and methods for making software easy to use via software usage mining

• US 7,802,197 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Issued: 09/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lew, Sin Shyh, Katariya, Sanjeev, Kim, Pyungchul, Zheng, Zijian
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh; Ba
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Tuyetlien T
• Application Number:
  US11/112,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20060242638A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,978 Days
• Field of Search: 715/788, 715/789, 715/707, 715/74, 715/747, 715/810, 715/811
• US Class Current: 715/789
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A system for dynamically updating user accessible features of a software application on a client computer has a user interface, a local usage data file, and a data mining engine. The user interface is adapted to receive operator inputs. The local usage data file is adapted to store usage information corresponding to the operator inputs. The data mining engine is adapted to process the stored usage information and to generate local adjustments to a user interface of the software application based on the operator inputs. In one embodiment, a server is adapted to receive usage data from a plurality of application instances on a plurality of client computers and to generate global adjustments based on the received usage data. In one embodiment, the system has a merge feature adapted to blend and resolve conflicts between local and global adjustments to generate an interface adjustment for the user interface.

Claims

1. A system for dynamically updating user accessible features of a software application on a given client computer, the system comprising:

a user interface at the given client computer receiving operator inputs to the software application;

a local usage data file storing usage information on a computer storage media corresponding to the operator inputs;

a data mining engine processing the stored usage information retrieved from the computer storage media and generating and storing information indicative of at least one local user interface adjustment of the software application based on processed usage information, wherein a user interface adjustment indicates an adjustment to the presentation of information by a user interface; and

a local merging feature blending and resolving conflicts between local user interface adjustments and global user interface adjustments generated and stored at a remote server, the global user interface adjustments based at least in part on operator usage patterns on client computers other than the given client computer, to generate and store an interface update for the user interface of the application on the given client computer based on each of the local user interface adjustments and global user interface adjustments.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a server receiving usage data from a plurality of application instances on a plurality of client computers and storing the received usage data in a global usage log; and

a global data mining engine processing the stored usage data and periodically generating global user interface adjustments based on the stored usage data for updating the user interface of each of the plurality of application instances.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the data mining engine is analyzes the usage data according to a predetermined data mining algorithm.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the interface update comprises:

a macro for minimizing steps required of an operator to perform an operation within the user interface of the application.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the data mining engine provides usage information to a server over a network based on an operator selection.

6. A system for updating a user interface of a software application based on global usage data, the system comprising:

a server coupled to a network and receiving usage information over the network based on operator interactions with the user interface of each of a plurality of application instances of the software application;

a global usage log for storing the received usage information on a computer storage medium at the server;

a data mining engine at the server processing the stored usage information in the global usage log, the stored usage information being used to generate and store least one global user interface adjustment at the server of each of the plurality of application instances based on the stored usage information, wherein a user interface adjustment indicates an adjustment to the presentation of information by a user interface; and

a client device resolving conflicts between global user interface adjustments and local user interface adjustments, merging the global user interface adjustments based at least in part on operator usage patterns of the software application on devices other than the client device and local user interface adjustments into an interface adjustment and updating the user interface based on the interface adjustment.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the client device is coupled to the server over the network, the client device having an application instance of the software application, the client device storing usage information corresponding to operator interactions with the user interface of the software application in a local usage log and in the global usage log, the client device processing the data in the local usage log and to generating local user interface adjustments to the user interface based on the operator inputs.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the interface adjustment comprises a macro that minimizes a number of steps required of a user to execute a function within the user interface.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the data mining engine processes and analyzes the global usage data using a data mining algorithm.

10. The system of claim 7 further comprising:

a global macros data file stored on the server, the global macros data file comprising a plurality of global user interface adjustments.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the global macros data file is accessible for download to each of the plurality of application instances of the software application based on operator interactions with the user interface.

12. A system for dynamically improving a user interface of a software application comprising:

client devices coupled to a network and operating software programs, each client device having a software application stored on a computer storage media with a user interface, the software application recording operator interactions with the user interface and optionally generating a usage output based on the recorded operator interactions, wherein each client device generates local adjustments to the representation of information by the user interface based on the recorded operator interactions;

a server coupled to each of the client devices over the network and receiving the usage output from the client devices, wherein the server processes the received usage output and automatically generates global updates indicating an adjustment to the representation of information by the user interface based on the received usage output from a plurality of client devices; and

a merge feature on each client device receiving the global updates, resolving conflicts between the global updates and the local adjustments and merging the global updates with the local adjustments to update the user interface.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein each client device comprises:

a local data mining engine processing the recorded operator interactions to identify patterns and frequently used features of the user interface.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein each client device further comprises:

a macro generator generating macros and user interface adjustments based on the identified patterns and frequently used features.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the server comprises:

a global data mining engine processing the received usage output and generating global updates to the user interface.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the server further comprises:

a global macros file storing the global updates.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the global macros file is accessible for download to each client device over the network based on operator interactions with the user interface.

18. The system of claim 12 wherein the merge feature blends and resolves conflicts between local adjustments and global updates to update the user interface.