Adjusting user interface screen order and composition

• US 9,244,583 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2011
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Lovitt, Andrew William, Hall, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Pillai, Namitha
• Application Number:
  US13/316,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20130151983A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: 715/745, 715/732, 715/778, 715/789
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for user interface screen order and composition. Embodiments of the invention include using historical data and/or contextual data to augment, rearrange, or reconfigure menus and/or screen flows and add/remove/hide/expose content and functionality for users. Screen flow adjustments are formulated based on historical data and/or contextual data. The formulated adjustments facilitate more appropriate access to specified user interface elements within a screen flow in view of identified user interface elements of interest. The screen flow is adjusted in accordance with the formulated adjustments to facilitate more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements.

Claims

1. At a computer system, the computer system including a processor, system memory, and a display device, a method for adjusting a screen flow for an application, the method comprising:

accessing a screen flow corresponding to a user interface of an application that is executing at the computer system, the screen flow including a plurality of interconnected user interface screens that each includes a subset of a plurality of user interface elements of the screen flow;

in connection with a user'"'"'s current interaction with the application at the computer system, accessing (i) usage information describing one or more user'"'"'s historical interactions with the plurality of user interface elements, and (ii) contextual information describing an operating context for the application, the contextual information being selected from the group comprising a device setting, a manufacturer setting, a user preference, and an operating environment of the application;

based on the usage information describing the one or more user'"'"'s historical interactions with the plurality of user interface elements, identifying a first set of one or more of the plurality of user interface elements that are of interest to the user;

based on the contextual information describing the operating context for the application, identifying a second set of one or more of the plurality of user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application;

formulating a plurality adjustments to the screen flow to facilitate more appropriate access to specified user interface elements within the screen flow in view of the identified first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user, and in view of the identified second set of one or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application; and

adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated plurality of adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements, including adjusting at least one user interface element from the first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user, and adjusting at least one user interface element from the second set of one or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein accessing the usage information comprises accessing user feedback during use of the user interface.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the formulated adjustments are selected from the group comprising:

(i) adding a user interface element to one of the interconnected user interface screens, (ii) removing a user interface element from one of the interconnected user interface screens, (iii) rearranging user interface elements within one of the interconnected user interface screens, (iv) moving one of the plurality of user interface elements from one interconnected user interface screen to another interconnected user interface screen, (v) removing one of the interconnected user interface screens from the screen flow, (vi) connecting a new user interface screen to the interconnected user interface screens of the screen flow and (vii) rearranging the interconnected user interface screens of the screen flow.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated adjustments comprises connecting a new user interface screen to the interconnected user interface screens of the screen flow.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein connecting a new user interface screen to the interconnected user interface screens of the screen flow comprises connecting a new user interface screen that includes user interface elements from one or more other of the interconnected user interface screens.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements comprises adding a user interface element to one of the interconnected user interface screens.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements comprises removing a user interface element from one of the interconnected user interface screens.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements comprises removing a user interface screen from the interconnected user interface screens of the screen flow.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements comprises rearranging the interconnected user interface screens of the screen flow.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the user has an expected ability to handle a more complex feature set within the user interface than other users based on the accessed usage information; and

wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated plurality of adjustments comprises adding the more complex feature set to the user interface by adding one or more user interface elements representing the more complex feature set to at least one of the interconnected user interface screens.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

accessing usage information comprises accessing group usage information related to the user interface, the group usage information describing how a group of users historically interacted with the plurality of user interface elements of the screen flow; and

wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated plurality of adjustments comprises tuning a user experience provided by the screen flow based on the group usage information.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user and the second set of one Or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application share at least one particular user interface element in common, and wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated plurality of adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements includes adjusting the at least one particular user interface element based on it being shared by the first set of one or more user interface elements and the second set of one or more user interface elements.

13. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the computer system to execute a user interface adjustment module, the user interface adjustment module being configured to perform at least the following;

access a screen flow corresponding to a user interface of an application that is executing at the computer system, the screen flow including a plurality of interconnected user interface screens that each includes a subset of a plurality of user interface elements of the screen flow;

in connection with a user'"'"'s current interaction with the application at the computer system, access (i) usage information describing one or more user'"'"'s historical interactions with the plurality of user interface elements, and (ii) contextual information describing an operating context for the application, the contextual information being selected from the group comprising a device setting, a manufacturer setting, a user preference, and an operating environment of the application;

based on the usage information describing the one or more user'"'"'s historical interactions with the plurality of user interface elements, identify a first set of one or more of the plurality of user interface elements that are of interest to the user;

based on the contextual information describing the operating context for the application, identify a second set of one or more of the plurality of user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application;

formulate a plurality of adjustments to the screen flow to more appropriately present the screen flow in view of the identified first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user, and in view of the identified second set of one or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application; and

adjust the screen flow in accordance with the formulated plurality of adjustments to more appropriately present user interface elements on a display device, including adjusting at least one user interface element from the first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user, and adjusting at least one user interface element from the second set of one or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application.

14. The computer system as recited in claim 13, wherein the user interface adjustment module is also configured to access a policy that prevents one or more of the specified adjustments to the screen flow based on automatic learning of user capabilities.

15. The computer system as recited in claim 13, wherein the first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user and the second set of one or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application share at least one particular user interface element in common, and wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated plurality of adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements includes adjusting the at least one particular user interface element based on it being shared by the first set of one or more user interface elements and the second set of one or more user interface elements.

16. The computer system as recited in claim 13, wherein the user interface adjustment module is also configured to determine that the user has an expected ability to handle a more complex feature set within the user interface than other users based on the accessed usage information, and wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the plurality of formulated adjustments comprises adding the more complex feature set to the user interface by adding a user interface element representing the more complex feature set to at least one of the interconnected user interface screens.

17. A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer system a display device, the computer program product comprising one or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer system to adjust a screen flow for an application, including at least the following:

accessing a screen flow corresponding to a user interface of an application that is executing at the computer system, the screen flow including a plurality of interconnected user interface screens that each includes a subset of a plurality of user interface elements of the screen flow;

in connection with a user'"'"'s current interaction with the application at the computer system, accessing (i) usage information describing one or more user'"'"'s historical interactions with the plurality of user interface elements, and (ii) contextual information describing an operating context for the application, the contextual information being selected from the group comprising a device setting, a manufacturer setting, a user preference, and an operating environment of the application;

based on the usage information describing the one or more user'"'"'s historical interactions with the plurality of user interface elements, identifying a first set of one or more of the plurality of user interface elements that are of interest to the user;

based on the contextual information describing the operating context for the application, identifying a second set of one or more of the plurality of user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application;

formulating a plurality of adjustments to the screen flow to facilitate more appropriate access to specified user interface elements within the screen flow in view of the identified first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user, and in view of the identified second set of one or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application; and

adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated plurality of adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements, including adjusting at least one user interface element from the first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user, and adjusting at least one user interface element from the second set of one or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, also including:

determining that the user has an expected ability to handle a more complex feature set within the user interface than other users based on the accessed usage information; and

wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the plurality of formulated adjustments comprises adding the more complex feature set to the user interface by adding a user interface element representing the more complex feature set to at least one of the interconnected user interface screens.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein:

accessing usage information comprises accessing group usage information related to the user interface, the group usage information describing how a group of users historically interacted with plurality of user interface elements of the screen flow; and

wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the plurality of formulated adjustments comprises tuning a user experience provided by the screen flow based on the group usage information.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the first set of one or more user interface elements that are of interest to the user and the second set of one or more user interface elements that are to be adjusted based on the operating context for the application share at least one particular user interface element in common, and wherein adjusting the screen flow in accordance with the formulated plurality of adjustments for more appropriate access to the specified user interface elements includes adjusting the at least one particular user interface element based on it being shared by the first set of one or more user interface elements and the second set of one or more user interface elements.