User prompting when potentially mistaken actions occur during user interaction with content on a display screen

• US 7,882,434 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2004
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smartsheet Inc.
• Original Assignee: Benjamin Slotznick
• Inventors: Sheetz, Stephen C., Slotznick, Benjamin
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Assistant Examiner(s): Augustine, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US10/876,750
• Publication Number:
  US 20040268266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,412 Days
• Field of Search: 715/710, 715/745, 715/811, 715/812, 715/708, 715/744, 715/705, 715/707, 715/711, 714/46
• US Class Current: 715/710
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

A method is provided for prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction. The interaction includes a plurality of actions associated with the content of the display screen. The content is created by programming code. Programming code is analyzed to determine the next most likely action to occur during user interaction with the display screen contents at a plurality of different points in the programming code. After an action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, it is detected whether the user performed the next most likely action. The user is prompted with an indication if the user did not perform the next most likely action and therefore may have made a potential mistake.

Claims

1. A method of prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device to indicate that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction, wherein the interaction includes a plurality of navigation-related actions associated with the content of the display screen, the content being created by programming code, the method comprising:

(a) electronically predefining an order for selecting the content on the display screen;

(b) analyzing the programming code to determine the next most likely navigation-related action to occur during user interaction with the display screen content at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein the next most likely navigation-related action to occur is determined based on the predefined order;

(c) after a navigation-related action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, detecting whether the user performed the next most likely navigation-related action; and

(d) prompting the user with an indication if the user did not perform the next most likely navigation-related action and therefore may have made a potential mistake,

wherein the content on the display screen is the same content during the occurrence of each of the plurality of navigation-related actions performed by the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step (d) further comprises inhibiting the user'"'"'s navigation-related action in step (c) from occurring for at least a human perceptible predetermined period of time if the user did not perform the next most likely navigation-related action.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be the next most likely navigation-related action by the predetermined period of time, allowing the user'"'"'s latest navigation-related action to occur.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be the next most likely navigation-related action by the predetermined period of time, repeating step (d).

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be the next most likely navigation-related action by the predetermined period of time, automatically performing the next most likely navigation-related action and ignoring the user'"'"'s navigation-related actions.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication is an audiovisual message or signal.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the indication is the highlighting of selected text on the display screen.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication is a message or signal that communicates to the user what the next most likely navigation-related action is.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the programming code defines text, and at least some of the navigation-related actions are to cause text defined by the programming code to be electronically read by a text-to-speech reader.

10. A method of prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device to indicate that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction, wherein the interaction includes a plurality of navigation-related actions associated with the content of the display screen, the content being created by programming code, the method comprising:

(a) electronically predefining an order for selecting the content on the display screen

(b) analyzing the programming code to determine the next most likely navigation-related action to occur during user interaction with the display screen content at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein the next most likely navigation-related action to occur is determined based on the predefined order;

(c) prestoring next navigation-related actions that are likely mistakes at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein navigation-related actions that are likely mistakes are navigation-related actions that are not the next most likely navigation-related action to occur as determined in step (b);

(d) after a navigation-related action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, detecting whether the user performed a likely mistake; and

(e) prompting the user with an indication if the user performed a likely mistake,

wherein the content on the display screen is the same content during the occurrence of each of the plurality of navigation-related actions performed by the user.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein step (e) further comprises inhibiting the user'"'"'s navigation-related action in step (d) from occurring for at least a human perceptible predetermined period of time if the user performed a likely mistake.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be a navigation-related action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, allowing the user'"'"'s latest navigation-related action to occur.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be a navigation-related action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, repeating step (e).

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be a navigation-related action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, ignoring the user'"'"'s navigation-related actions and automatically performing a next navigation-related action that is not a likely mistake.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the indication is an audiovisual message or signal.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the indication is the highlighting of selected text on the display screen.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the indication is a message or signal that communicates to the user what the next navigation-related action should be.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein a navigation-related action likely to be a mistake is a navigation-related action that is not the navigation-related action that is most likely to occur next.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein at least some of the programming code defines text, and at least some of the navigation-related actions are to cause text defined by the programming code to be electronically read by a text-to-speech reader.

20. An article of manufacture for prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device to indicate that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction, wherein the interaction includes a plurality of navigation-related actions associated with the content of the display screen, the content being created by programming code, the article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

(a) electronically predefining an order for selecting the content on the display screen;

(b) analyzing the programming code to determine the next most likely navigation-related action to occur during user interaction with the display screen content at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein the next most likely navigation-related action to occur is determined based on the predefined order;

(c) after a navigation-related action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, detecting whether the user performed the next most likely navigation-related action; and

(d) prompting the user with an indication if the user did not perform the next most likely navigation-related action and therefore may have made a potential mistake,

wherein the content on the display screen is the same content during the occurrence of each of the plurality of navigation-related actions performed by the user.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 20 wherein step (d) further comprises inhibiting the user'"'"'s navigation-related action in step (c) from occurring for at least a human perceptible predetermined period of time if the user did not perform the next most likely navigation-related action.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be the next most likely navigation-related action by the predetermined period of time, allowing the user'"'"'s latest navigation-related action to occur.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 21 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be the next most likely navigation-related action by the predetermined period of time, repeating step (d).

24. The article of manufacture of claim 21 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be the next most likely navigation-related action by the predetermined period of time, automatically performing the next most likely navigation-related action and ignoring the user'"'"'s navigation-related actions.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 20 wherein the indication is an audiovisual message or signal.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25 wherein the indication is the highlighting of selected text on the display screen.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 20 wherein the indication is a message or signal that communicates to the user what the next most likely navigation-related action is.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 20 wherein at least some of the programming code defines text, and at least some of the navigation-related actions are to cause text defined by the programming code to be electronically read by a text-to-speech reader.

29. An article of manufacture for prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device to indicate that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction, wherein the interaction includes a plurality of navigation-related actions associated with the content of the display screen, the content being created by programming code, the article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

(a) electronically predefining an order for selecting the content on the display screen

(b) analyzing the programming code to determine the next most likely navigation-related action to occur during user interaction with the display screen content at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein the next most likely navigation-related action to occur is determined based on the predefined order;

(c) prestoring next navigation-related actions that are likely mistakes at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein navigation-related actions that are likely mistakes are navigation-related actions that are not the next most likely navigation-related action to occur as determined in step (b);

(d) after a navigation-related action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, detecting whether the user performed a likely mistake; and

(e) prompting the user with an indication if the user performed a likely mistake,

wherein the content on the display screen is the same content during the occurrence of each of the plurality of navigation-related actions performed by the user.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 29 wherein step (e) further comprises inhibiting the user'"'"'s navigation-related action in step (d) from occurring for at least a human perceptible predetermined period of time if the user performed a likely mistake.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 30 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be a navigation-related action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, allowing the user'"'"'s latest navigation-related action to occur.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 30 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be a navigation-related action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, repeating step (e).

33. The article of manufacture of claim 30 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her navigation-related action to be a navigation-related action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, ignoring the user'"'"'s navigation-related actions and automatically performing a next navigation-related action that is not a likely mistake.

34. The article of manufacture of claim 29 wherein the indication is an audiovisual message or signal.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 34 wherein the indication is the highlighting of selected text on the display screen.

36. The article of manufacture of claim 29 wherein the indication is a message or signal that communicates to the user what the next navigation-related action should be.

37. The article of manufacture of claim 29 wherein a navigation-related action likely to be a mistake is a navigation-related action that is not the navigation-related action that is most likely to occur next.

38. The article of manufacture of claim 29 wherein at least some of the programming code defines text, and at least some of the navigation-related actions are to cause text defined by the programming code to be electronically read by a text-to-speech reader.

39. A method of prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device to indicate that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction, wherein the interaction includes a plurality of actions associated with the content of the display screen, the content being created by programming code, the method comprising:

(a) electronically predefining an order for selecting the content on the display screen;

(b) analyzing the programming code to determine the next most likely action to occur during user interaction with the display screen content at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein the next most likely navigation-related action to occur is determined based on the predefined order;

(c) after an action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, detecting whether the user performed the next most likely action; and

(d) prompting the user with an indication if the user did not perform the next most likely action and therefore may have made a potential mistake, and inhibiting the user'"'"'s action in step (c) from occurring for at least a predetermined period of time if the user did not perform the next most likely action,

wherein the content on the display screen is the same content during the user interaction at each of the plurality of different points in the programming code.

40. The method of claim 39 further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her action to be the next most likely action by the predetermined period of time, allowing the user'"'"'s latest action to occur.

41. The method of claim 39 further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her action to be the next most likely action by the predetermined period of time, repeating step (d).

42. The method of claim 39 further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her action to be the next most likely action by the predetermined period of time, automatically performing the next most likely action and ignoring the user'"'"'s actions.

43. A method of prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device to indicate that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction, wherein the interaction includes a plurality of actions associated with the content of the display screen, the content being created by programming code, the method comprising:

(a) electronically predefining an order for selecting the content on the display screen;

(b) analyzing the programming code to determine the next most likely action to occur during user interaction with the display screen content at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein the next most likely navigation-related action to occur is determined based on the predefined order;

(c) prestoring next actions that are likely mistakes at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein actions that are likely mistakes are actions that are not the next most likely action to occur as determined in step (b);

(d) after an action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, detecting whether the user performed a likely mistake; and

(e) prompting the user with an indication if the user performed a likely mistake, and inhibiting the user'"'"'s action in step (d) from occurring for at least a predetermined period of time if the user performed a likely mistake,

wherein the content on the display screen is the same content during the user interaction at each of the plurality of different points in the programming code.

44. The method of claim 43 further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her action to be an action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, allowing the user'"'"'s latest action to occur.

45. The method of claim 43 further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her action to be an action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, repeating step (e).

46. The method of claim 43 further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her action to be an action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, ignoring the user'"'"'s actions and automatically performing a next action that is not a likely mistake.

47. An article of manufacture for prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device to indicate that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction, wherein the interaction includes a plurality of actions associated with the content of the display screen, the content being created by programming code, the article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

(a) electronically predefining an order for selecting the content on the display screen;

(b) analyzing the programming code to determine the next most likely action to occur during user interaction with the display screen content at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein the next most likely navigation-related action to occur is determined based on the predefined order;

(c) after an action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, detecting whether the user performed the next most likely action; and

(d) prompting the user with an indication if the user did not perform the next most likely action and therefore may have made a potential mistake, and inhibiting the user'"'"'s action in step (c) from occurring for at least a predetermined period of time if the user did not perform the next most likely action,

wherein the content on the display screen is the same content during the user interaction at each of the plurality of different points in the programming code.

48. The article of manufacture of claim 47 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her action to be the next most likely action by the predetermined period of time, allowing the user'"'"'s latest action to occur.

49. The article of manufacture of claim 47 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her action to be the next most likely action by the predetermined period of time, repeating step (d).

50. The article of manufacture of claim 47 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(e) if the user has not modified his or her action to be the next most likely action by the predetermined period of time, automatically performing the next most likely action and ignoring the user'"'"'s actions.

51. An article of manufacture for prompting a user who interacts with content on a display screen via a pointing device to indicate that a potential mistake may have been made during the interaction, wherein the interaction includes a plurality of actions associated with the content of the display screen, the content being created by programming code, the article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

(a) electronically predefining an order for selecting the content on the display screen;

(b) analyzing the programming code to determine the next most likely action to occur during user interaction with the display screen content at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein the next most likely navigation-related action to occur is determined based on the predefined order;

(c) prestoring next actions that are likely mistakes at a plurality of different points in the programming code, wherein actions that are likely mistakes are actions that are not the next most likely action to occur as determined in step (b);

(d) after an action occurs by a user at a point in the programming code, detecting whether the user performed a likely mistake; and

(e) prompting the user with an indication if the user performed a likely mistake, and inhibiting the user'"'"'s action in step (d) from occurring for at least a predetermined period of time if the user performed a likely mistake,

wherein the content on the display screen is the same content during the user interaction at each of the plurality of different points in the programming code.

52. The article of manufacture of claim 51 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her action to be an action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, allowing the user'"'"'s latest action to occur.

53. The article of manufacture of claim 51 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her action to be an action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, repeating step (e).

54. The article of manufacture of claim 51 wherein the computer-executable instructions perform a method further comprising:

(f) if the user has not modified his or her action to be an action that is not a likely mistake by the predetermined period of time, ignoring the user'"'"'s actions and automatically performing a next action that is not a likely mistake.