Method and system for providing electronic user assistance

• US 7,831,688 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2001
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Trouw, Arie, Linyard, Ronald A., Salling, Jonas, Wineman, Mark, Sparks, Brian C., Asch, Arlyn
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Philip C
• Application Number:
  US09/876,788
• Publication Number:
  US 20020023144A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,443 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 379/88.13, 709/218
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

A system and method for incorporating software modules into a website or other information source that is searchable and updateable, which helps to create a dynamic user assistance environment. The system searches based on context/category sensitive natural language requests. This dynamic environment becomes “smarter” over time and will track questions and answers by a number of methods to assure the answers are up to date and that there is a high confidence match for the user'"'"'s inquiry. The entire collection of data resides in a centralized location where the information can be leveraged to answer a user'"'"'s question and aid in the creation of question/answer pairs for later use. Additionally, the assistance system supports a method for incorporating new informational content and answers to unanswered questions, for example by authorized support persons, that are categorized and stored in the existing system for later reference and use.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing program logic operative for implementing:

receiving a question from a computer executed application, wherein the question pertains to use of a particular website or particular information source of a content provider;

in response to receiving the question, identifying an operational context in which the question is submitted, wherein the operational context is associated with the question, and wherein the operational context comprises one or more of;

a location, within the particular website or particular information source, from which the question is submitted;

or

information about a system from which the question is submitted;

in response to identifying the operational context for the question, determining a category for the question, wherein the category is determined dependent upon the identified operational context;

retrieving a result for the question, wherein the category and the question are both used to retrieve the result;

based on the result, determining whether the question is an answered question or an unanswered question; and

when the question is determined as an answered question;

using a natural language indexing module to normalize the answered question, wherein one or more superfluous words are removed from the answered question to determine whether another question is substantially similar to the answered question; and

storing the normalized answered question in association with tracking data for the normalized answered question, wherein the tracking data indicates that the question was answered; and

when the question is determined as an unanswered question;

using a natural language indexing module to normalize the unanswered question, wherein one or more superfluous words are removed from the unanswered question to determine whether another question is substantially similar to the unanswered question; and

storing the normalized unanswered question in association with tracking data for the normalized unanswered question, wherein the tracking data indicates that the normalized unanswered question was not answered.

2. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 1, wherein identifying the operational context comprises determining whether a web page has been visited.

3. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 1, wherein identifying the operational context comprises identifying a time that a web page is accessed.

4. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 1, wherein identifying the operational context comprises determining a format associated with the question.

5. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 4, wherein the format comprises input from a field in a web page.

6. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 4, wherein the format comprises an e-mail message.

7. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 4, wherein the format comprises an electronic chat question.

8. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 1, wherein identifying the operational context comprises determining a hardware environment associated with the computer executed application.

9. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 1, wherein the program logic is further operative for generating a web page configured to present an answer to the question based on said result.

10. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 1, wherein the program logic is further operative for generating an e-mail configured to present an answer to the question based on said result.

11. The non-transitory computer accessible storage medium of claim 1, wherein said determining a category for the question comprises using the identified operational context to search one or more context-to-category maps.

12. A non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing program logic operative for implementing:

receiving at least one question from a computer executed application into a question module, wherein the at least one question pertains to use of a particular website or particular information source of a content provider;

normalizing the at least one question, wherein the normalizing the at least one question comprises removing one or more superfluous words from the question;

identifying at least one category associated with a context in which the at least one question was submitted using a context module, wherein the context comprises one or more of;

a location, within the particular website or particular information source, from which the at least one question is submitted;

or

information about a system from which the at least one question is submitted;

retrieving results for the at least one question, wherein the category and the at least one question are both used to retrieve the results;

based on the results, determining whether the at least one question comprises an answered question or an unanswered question;

when the at least one question is determined as comprising an answered question, using a knowledge module to compose a detailed answer to the at least one question;

when the at least one question is determined as comprising an unanswered question;

logging the unanswered question using a tracking module; and

identify a plurality of frequently asked unanswered questions; and

providing an authoring module configured to generate a request for an answer to each of the plurality of frequently asked unanswered questions, wherein the authoring module is further configured to receive input, wherein the input is used to answer one or more of the plurality of frequently asked unanswered questions.

13. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing program logic operative for implementing;

a question module configured to receive at least one question from a computer executed application;

a context/category module configured to identify at least one category mapped to a context in which the at least one question is submitted, wherein the context comprises one or more of;

a location, within a particular website or particular information source, from which the question is submitted;

or

information about a system from which the question is submitted;

wherein the question module is further configured to;

retrieve results for the at least one question, wherein the at least one category and the at least one question are both used to retrieve the results;

based on the results, determine whether the at least one question is an answered question or an unanswered question;

in response to determining that the at least one question is an answered question;

use a knowledge module to compose an answer to the at least one question, wherein the knowledge module is configured to identify the answer to the at least one question based on the at least one category;

return the answer in response to the question; and

use a tracking module to store the answered question in association with tracking data for the answered question, wherein the tracking data indicates that the answered question was answered; and

in response to determining that the at least one question is an unanswered question;

use the tracking module to store the unanswered question in association with tracking data for the unanswered question, wherein the tracking data indicates that the unanswered question was not answered;

a statistics module configured to identify one or more frequently asked unanswered questions;

an authoring module configured to display the one or more frequently asked unanswered questions and receive answer data for the one or more frequently asked unanswered questions;

wherein the statistics module is further configured to provide a question and answer pair based on a most frequently asked question associated with the at least one category;

a suggestion module configured to provide the question and answer pair in response to a request for assistance;

wherein for each one of a plurality of requests, based on a request type of the one of the plurality of requests, the program logic is configured to select one of the question module, the suggestion module, or the authoring module to handle the one of the plurality of requests; and

wherein the context/category module, the knowledge module, the statistics module, and the tracking module are each used by one or more of the question module, the suggestion module, or the authoring module in handling the plurality of requests.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the authoring module automatically associates the answer data with the one or more frequently asked unanswered questions.