Analyzing user behavior to enhance data display

• US 8,914,731 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2009
• Issued: 12/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Krishnamurthy, Sanjay
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdul-Ali, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUONG H
• Application Number:
  US12/414,983
• Publication Number:
  US 20100251126A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,086 Days
• Field of Search: 715/734, 715/735, 715/744, 715/745, 715/789, 715/811
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2457 with adaptation to user needs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enhancing the display of data is provided. User interaction data describing the interactions of a plurality of users with a user interface component is stored. The user interaction data is analyzed to identify patterns of prior use of the user interface component. The operation of a three-tier architecture may be configured to enhance performance based on the patterns of prior use. For example, upon determining a certain percentage of users interact with the user interface component in a manner requiring the visual appearance of the user interface component to be updated to depict additional data not previously depicted, the additional data may be cached at an application tier or provided to a client before a user requests the additional data to minimize the delay in retrieving the additional data. The patterns of prior use may also be used to selectively initialize resources at the middle-tier.

Claims

1. A method for selectively providing data, the method comprising:

analyzing user interaction data that describes interactions of users with a user interface component incorporated as part of a web page, the web page comprising a tree of data that can be user configured into a state selected from among a set of configuration states of the user interface component, to determine a percentage of users that interact with said user interface component in a particular manner to depict said tree of data in a second configuration state of the user interface component that requires a visual appearance of said user interface component to be updated to depict additional data of nodes of said tree of data not previously depicted in a first configuration state of the user interface component;

determining whether said percentage of users that interact in the particular manner is greater than a threshold value, and responsive to said determining retrieving said additional data from a database via a database management system by use of at least one processor; and

determining a particular size of a pool of resources based on an estimated workload, the estimated workload being determined based on patterns of prior use of the user interface component identified in the user interaction data, and forming said pool at least by instantiating one or more threads that are capable of performing work on at least a portion of the estimated workload.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said analyzing said user interaction data comprises:

identifying said additional data by analyzing patterns of use of said user interface component, wherein said patterns of use are described by said user interaction data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said user interaction data describes one or more user-initiated actions to expand a particular node previously depicted in said tree in the first configuration state of the user interface component, to depict said additional data of said nodes as one or more child nodes of said particular node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said user interaction data describes one or more user-initiated actions to scroll said tree on said particular display to cause said particular display to depict said additional data, and wherein said additional data is depicted in association with said nodes not previously depicted in the first configuration state.

5. A system to retrieve data required to render a display, the system comprising at least a processor coupled to a memory, and the system further comprising:

means for analyzing user interaction data that describes interactions of users with a user interface component incorporated as part of a web page, the web page comprising a tree of data that can be user configured into a state selected from among a set of configuration states of the user interface component, to determine a percentage of users that interact with said user interface component in a particular manner that requires a visual appearance of said user interface component to be updated to depict additional data of nodes of said tree of data not previously depicted in a first configuration state of the user interface component;

means for determining whether said percentage of users that interact in the particular manner is greater than a threshold value;

means, responsive to said means for determining, for retrieving said additional data from a database via a database management system; and

means for determining a particular size of a pool of resources based on an estimated workload, the estimated workload being determined based on patterns of prior use of the user interface component identified in the user interaction data, and for forming said pool at least by instantiating one or more threads that are capable of performing work on at least a portion of the estimated workload.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said means for analyzing said user interaction data comprises:

means for identifying said additional data by analyzing patterns of use of said user interface component, wherein said patterns of use are described by said user interaction data.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein said client comprises a web browser, and wherein said particular display comprises a web page.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein said user interaction data describes one or more user-initiated actions to expand a particular node previously depicted in said tree in the first configuration state of the user interface component, to depict said additional data of said nodes as one or more child nodes of said particular node.

9. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing one or more sequences of instructions for selectively providing data, which when executed by at least one processor perform:

analyzing user interaction data that describes interactions of users with a user interface component incorporated as part of a web page, the web page comprising a tree of data that can be user configured into a state selected from among a set of configuration states of the user interface component, to determine a percentage of users that interact with said user interface component in a particular manner to depict said tree of data in a second configuration state of the user interface component that requires a visual appearance of said user interface component to be updated to depict additional data of nodes of said tree of data not previously depicted in a first configuration state of the user interface component;

determining whether said percentage of users that interact in the particular manner is greater than a threshold value, and responsive to said determining retrieving said additional data from a database via a database management system; and

determining a particular size of a pool of resources based on an estimated workload, the estimated workload being determined based on patterns of prior use of the user interface component identified in the user interaction data, and forming said pool at least by instantiating one or more threads that are capable of performing work on at least a portion of the estimated workload.

10. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein said analyzing said user interaction data comprises:

identifying said additional data by analyzing patterns of use of said user interface component, wherein said patterns of use are described by said user interaction data.

11. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein said user interaction data describes one or more user-initiated actions to expand a particular node previously depicted in said tree in the first configuration state of the user interface component, to depict said additional data of said nodes as one or more child nodes of said particular node.

12. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein said user interaction data describes one or more user-initiated actions to scroll said tree on said particular display to cause said particular display to depict said additional data, and wherein said additional data is depicted in association with said nodes not previously depicted in the first configuration state.