Device, system, and method for providing interactive guidance with execution of operations

• US 9,569,231 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2009
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kryon Systems Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Kryon Systems Ltd.
• Inventors: Butin, Emma Noya, Keinan, Oren
• Primary Examiner(s): BHARGAVA, ANIL K
• Application Number:
  US12/320,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20100205530A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,927 Days
• Field of Search: 715/705, 715/708, 715/709, 715/711, 715/712, 715/714, 715/715
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Device, system, and method for providing interactive guidance with execution of operations. For example, a method of providing interactive guidance to a user of a computerized application includes: receiving a user request to obtain interactive guidance with respect to the computerized application; based on the user request, selectively retrieving an interactive guidance script from a repository of previously-recorded interactive guidance scripts; playing the interactive guidance script with respect to the computerized application; and automatically executing by the interactive guidance script at least one action on behalf of the user with regard to the computerized application.

Claims

1. A method of providing interactive guidance to a user of a computerized application, the method comprising:

receiving a user request to obtain interactive guidance with respect to said computerized application;

based on the user request, selectively retrieving an interactive guidance script from a repository of previously-recorded interactive guidance scripts, wherein said interactive guidance script comprises instructions for performing one or more actions in said computerized application on behalf of the user, for displaying guidance text associated with at least one of said actions, and for enabling the user to enter data comprising a character string into one or more fields in the computerized application in response to at least some of said guidance text; and

playing said interactive guidance script,

to automatically execute said one or more actions in said computerized application on behalf of the user, to display said guidance text in association with at least one of said actions, and to enable the user to enter said data into said one or more fields in said computerized application, in response to at least some of said guidance text.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein playing the interactive guidance script comprises performing at least one of:

imitating a mouse movement;

imitating a mouse click; and

imitating a press of one or more keyboard keys.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively retrieving the interactive guidance script comprises selecting the interactive guidance script based on at least one of:

a hierarchical tree of categories of interactive guidance scripts;

tag-based navigation among tags associated with interactive guidance scripts;

textual search of text items associated with interactive guidance scripts;

navigation through historic search items of said user; and

navigation through historic search items of one or more other users.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in connection with playing the interactive guidance script, modifying a display of the computerized application presented to the user by performing at least one of;

restoring a window;

closing a window;

modifying a size of a window;

modifying a location of a window;

modifying a property of a window;

maximizing a window;

minimizing a window; and

opening a window.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein playing said interactive guidance script comprises at least one of:

calling from said interactive guidance script another interactive guidance script;

checking whether or not a condition holds true in order to determine whether or not perform a script action;

jumping from a first location of said interactive guidance script to a second location of said interactive guidance script; and

validating data received from said user during the playing of said interactive guidance script.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein playing said interactive guidance script comprises at least one of:

performing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on a display showing said computerized application to determine a location of a textual item on which a script action is to be performed; and

performing image recognition on said display showing said computerized application to determine a location of a graphical item on which a script action is to be performed.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting to the user a toolbar comprising one or more of;

a selectable option to pause the playing of the interactive guidance script; and

a selectable option to stop the playing of the interactive guidance script.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the computerized application comprises an application selected from the group consisting of:

an application configured to run on a computer,

an application configured to run on a mobile phone,

an application configured to run on a mobile computing device,

an application configured to run on a handheld computing device,

an Operating System,

an application configured to run on a gaming console,

an application configured to run on a gaming device, and

an application configured to run on an electronic device having a User Interface (UI).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein playing the interactive guidance script is in response to receiving a user command through a helper module, and wherein the helper module is selected from the group consisting of:

an add-on to said computerized application;

a plug-in of said computerized application;

an extension of said computerized application;

a module embedded within said computerized application;

a module of said computerized application;

a help module internal to said computerized application;

a help module external to said computerized application;

a help module associated with said computerized application;

an interface component internal to said computerized application;

a particular guidance module adapted to provide guidance to said computerized application; and

a general guidance module adapted to provide guidance to a plurality of computerized applications.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating the data entered by the user against a criterion.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions for providing interactive guidance to a user of a computerized application, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

receive a user request to obtain interactive guidance with respect to said computerized application;

selectively retrieve, based on the user request, an interactive guidance script from a repository of previously-recorded interactive guidance scripts, wherein said interactive guidance script comprises instructions for performing one or more actions in said computerized application on behalf of the user, for displaying guidance text associated with at least one of said actions, and for enabling the user to enter data comprising a character string into one or more fields in the computerized application in response to at least some of said guidance text; and

play said interactive guidance script, to automatically execute said one or more actions in said computerized application on behalf of the user, to display said guidance text in association with at least one of said actions, and to enable the user to enter said data into said one or more fields in said computerized application, in response to at least some of said guidance text.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the script player is to imitate at least one of:

a mouse movement;

a mouse click; and

a press of one or more keyboard keys.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the helper module is to select the interactive guidance script based on at least one of:

a hierarchical tree of categories of interactive guidance scripts;

tag-based navigation among tags associated with interactive guidance scripts;

textual search of text items associated with interactive guidance scripts;

navigation through historic search items of said user; and

navigation through historic search items of one or more other users.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein, in connection with playing the interactive guidance script, the script player is to modify a display of the computerized application presented to the user by performing at least one of:

restoring a window;

closing a window;

modifying a size of a window;

modifying a location of a window;

modifying a property of a window;

maximizing a window;

minimizing a window; and

opening a window.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the script player is to perform at least one of:

calling from said interactive guidance script another interactive guidance script;

checking whether or not a condition holds true in order to determine whether or not perform a script action;

jumping from a first location of said interactive guidance script to a second location of said interactive guidance script; and

validating data received from said user during the playing of said interactive guidance script.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the script player is to perform at least one of:

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on a display showing said computerized application to determine a location of a textual item on which a script action is to be performed; and

image recognition on said display showing said computerized application to determine a location of a graphical item on which a script action is to be performed.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the user interface is to present to the user a toolbar comprising one or more of:

a selectable option to pause the playing of the interactive guidance script; and

a selectable option to stop the playing of the interactive guidance script.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the computerized application comprises an application selected from the group consisting of:

an application capable of running configured to run on a computer,

an application capable of running configured to run on a mobile phone,

an application capable of running configured to run on a mobile computing device,

an application capable of running configured to run on a handheld computing device,

an Operating System,

an application capable of running configured to run on a gaming console,

an application capable of running configured to run on a gaming device, and

an application capable of running configured to run on an electronic device having a User Interface (UI).

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the helper module comprises a component selected from the group consisting of:

an add-on to said computerized application;

a plug-in of said computerized application;

an extension of said computerized application;

a module embedded within said computerized application;

a module of said computerized application;

a help module internal to said computerized application;

a help module external to said computerized application;

a help module associated with said computerized application;

an interface component internal to said computerized application;

a particular guidance module adapted to provide guidance to said computerized application; and

a general guidance module adapted to provide guidance to a plurality of computerized applications.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the user request to obtain interactive guidance is received through at least one of:

a toolbar, a button, a menu, a drop-down menu, a pane, a link, a hyperlink, an icon, a textual item, a graphical representation, a clickable item, and a selectable item.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the script player is to perform validation of the data entered by the user against a criterion.