Method and system for quantitative determination of software ease of use

• US 9,104,234 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2008
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Verma, Dinesh Chandra, Verma, Paridhi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoffman, Brandon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Michael D
• Application Number:
  US12/057,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20080209230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,692 Days
• Field of Search: 382/115, 382/119
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection

Abstract

The present invention uses biometrics for the quantitative determination of software ease of use by collecting biometric data from a software user, identifying changes in the biometric data as the user uses the software, determining if the changes are indicative of software ease of use issues, and generating a signal as output if the changes are determined to be indicative of software ease of use issues. The sensors may be integrated into a computer mouse or other peripheral device with which the user comes in regular contact during use.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for quantitative determination of software ease of use, comprising the steps of:

using sensors to collect biometric data from each of a plurality of users engaged in using a software application operating on a computer or computer network;

monitoring and recording changes in the biometric data which occur while the software application is being used by each of the plurality of users;

combining recorded changes in the biometric data for each user into quantitative metrics;

averaging quantitative metrics across the plurality of users;

compiling the averaged quantitative metrics into a single quantitative measure for an ease of use index for the software application; and

providing an output as a user-independent index for ease-of-use of the software application.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein more than one software application may be running on a computer used by anyone of the plurality of users, further comprising the steps of:

determining a specific software application for which an ease-of-use index is to be determined; and

for the specific software application, creating application specific biometric data used in determining the user-independent index for ease-of use of the software application.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said user-independent index for ease-of-use of the software application is electronically stored or transmitted to another computer or computer network.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

establishing a threshold for the ease-of-use index for a software application;

determining if the threshold has been exceeded by an individual user of the software application; and

if the threshold is exceeded by the individual user, displaying a context sensitive help message.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4 wherein said context sensitive help message is provided based on a user-specific ease-of-use measure.

6. A computer system for quantitative determination of software ease of use, comprising:

sensors for collecting biometric data from each of a plurality of users engaged in using a software application operating on a computer or computer network; and

software operating on said computer or computer network which

a) monitors and records changes in the biometric data which occur while the software application is being used by each of the plurality of users;

b) combines recorded changes in the biometric data for each user into quantitative metrics;

c) averages quantitative metrics across the plurality of users;

d) compiles the averaged quantitative metrics into a single quantitative measure for an ease of use index for the software application; and

e) provides an output as a user-independent index for ease-of-use of the software application.

7. The computer system of claim 6 wherein at least one of said sensors is associated with a peripheral device which is connected to or communicates with said computer or computer network.

8. The computer system of claim 7 wherein said peripheral device is a mouse, tablet, track ball, or tablet.

9. The computer system of claim 6 wherein said user-independent index for ease-of-use of the software application is electronically stored or transmitted to another computer or computer network said output is a quantitative measurement of software ease of use.

10. The computer system of claim 9 further comprising a storage medium for storing said user-independent index for ease-of-use of the software application.

11. The computer system of claim 6, wherein for a specific software application a threshold is established for the ease-of-use index for the specific software application, said software operating on said computer or computer network further

f) determines if the threshold has been exceeded by an individual user of the software application;

and

g) if the threshold is exceeded by the individual user, displaying a context sensitive help message displayed on a display.

12. The computer system of claim 11 wherein said context sensitive help message is provided based on a user-specific ease-of-use measure.

13. A computer readable non-transitory medium providing instructions for implementing a method for quantitative determination of software ease of use, comprising the steps of:

using sensors to collect biometric data from each of a plurality of users engaged in using a software application operating on a computer or computer network;

monitoring and recording changes in the biometric data which occur while the software application is being used by each of the plurality of users;

combining recorded changes in the biometric data for each user into quantitative metrics;

averaging quantitative metrics across the plurality of users;

compiling the averaged quantitative metrics into a single quantitative measure for an ease of use index for the software application; and

providing an output as a user-independent index for east-of-use of the software application.

14. The computer readable non-transitory medium of claim 13 wherein more than one software application may be running on a computer used by anyone of the plurality of users, further comprising the steps of:

determining a specific software application for which an ease-of-use index is to be determined; and

for the specific software application, creating application specific biometric data used in determining the user-independent index for ease-of use of the software application.

15. The computer readable non-transitory medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions to electronically store or transmit said user-independent index for ease-of-use of the software application to another computer or computer network.

16. The computer readable non-transitory medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions for implementing the steps of:

establishing a threshold for the ease-of-use index for a software application;

determining if the threshold has been exceeded by an individual user of the software application; and

if the threshold is exceeded by the individual user, displaying a context sensitive help message.

17. The computer readable non-transitory medium of claim 16 wherein said output is provided based on a user-specific ease-of-use measure.