User interface for online product configuration and exploration

• US 20020059395A1
• Filed: 07/19/2001
• Published: 05/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Liou, Shih-Ping
• Application Number:
  US09/908,934
• Publication Number:
  US 20020059395A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A system and method for providing a user interface for product exploration and product configuration in which a seamless integration of browsing, query, and human assistance is provided which is customized to the knowledge level of each individual user. Product information is displayed on a web site under multiple views represented by a tab on the user interface. If the user is not familiar with a web site'"'"'s layout, s/he can type in a query, and documents based on relevance to the entered query will be returned. Relevance indicators are provided to indicate a relevance of each view, for each sub-category under a view, and a degree of relevance of the returned documents based on the user query. Actions of each user are summarized in a user summary, wherein if the user clicks on a help button provided on the user interface, said user summary is displayed to an agent.

Claims

1. A system for accessing information comprising:

a server system comprising

a product database;

a user profile database for storing user profiles; and

a domain model for modeling a set of views associated with product information stored in the product database, wherein said product database, the user profile database and the domain model are stored in a storage device; and

a client system comprising

a multi-view product browser for rendering a set of views stored in the storage device, each view comprising a perspective of product data, said product data being organized under sub-categories under each view, wherein as the user searches through the set of views, the multi-view product browser maps information from each view to other views for refining said information; and

a hypertext browser for generating relevant data from said product data based on at least one of a user query, domain knowledge, and the user profile, wherein a degree of relevance is reflected for each view, the sub-categories under each view and the relevant data with respect to the user query.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the views is represented by a tab.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein when the user sets a sub-category as relevant, the relevant data indexed under the sub-category is categorized as important and the degree of relevance of each view and each sub-category is updated accordingly.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein when the user sets a sub-category as irrelevant, the relevant data indexed under the irrelevant sub-category is categorized as less important and the degree of relevance of each view and each sub-category is updated accordingly.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of views is selected based on at least one of the user profile, community statistics and historical data.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a user summary is generated for providing a summary of the user'"'"'s search requirements, wherein the user summary is displayed on an agent'"'"'s system when the user requests assistance.

7. A method of accessing information comprising the steps of:

rendering a set of tabs on a user interface, each tab comprising a perspective of product data, wherein said product data is organized under sub-categories under each tab;

generating relevant documents from said product data with respect to a user query, wherein a degree of relevance is reflected for each tab, the sub-categories under each tab, and the relevant documents with respect to the user query; and

locating the relevant documents under the set of tabs, wherein as a user searches through the set of tabs, information from each tab is mapped to other tabs for refining the relevant documents.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the set of tabs are selected based on at least one of the user profile, community statistics and historical data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the degree of relevance of each tab is reflected by varying color shades.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the degree of relevance of each sub-category is shown using a relevance indicator.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the degree of relevance of the relevant documents with respect to the user query is shown by categorizing the relevant documents into important and less-important categories.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the relevant documents are generated based on at least one of a user query, domain knowledge, and a user profile.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the relevant documents are collected into a custom brochure.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein when the user sets a sub-category as relevant, the relevant documents indexed under the relevant sub-category are categorized as important and the degree of relevance of each tab and each sub-category is updated accordingly.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein when the user sets a sub-category as irrelevant, the relevant documents indexed under the irrelevant sub-category are categorized as less important and the degree of relevance of each tab and each sub-category is updated accordingly.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the relevance indicator comprises a bar which is shaded in to show a ratio of relevant product information with respect to all product information indexed under each sub-category.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein actions of each user are summarized in a user summary, wherein if the user clicks on a help button provided on the user interface, said user summary is displayed to an agent.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the set of tabs are selected based on at least one of a user profile, community statistics, and historical data.

18. A method of accessing information comprising the steps of:

rendering a set of tabs on a user interface, each tab representing a perspective of information of a product line, wherein as a user searches through the set of tabs, information from each tab is mapped to other tabs for refining said information; and

summarizing actions of each user in a user summary, wherein if the user clicks on a help button provided on the user interface, said user summary is displayed to an agent.

20. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method steps for accessing information comprising the steps of:

rendering a set of tabs on a user interface, each tab comprising a perspective of product data, wherein said product data is organized under sub-categories under each tab;

generating relevant documents from said product data with respect to a user query, wherein a degree of relevance is reflected for each tab, the sub-categories under each tab, and the relevant documents with respect to the user query; and

locating the relevant documents under the set of tabs, wherein as a user searches through the set of tabs, information from each tab is mapped to other tabs for refining the relevant documents.

21. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the set of tabs are selected based on at least one of the user profile, community statistics and historical data.

22. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the degree of relevance of each tab is reflected by varying color shades.

23. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the degree of relevance of each sub-category is shown using a relevance indicator.

24. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the degree of relevance of the relevant documents with respect to the user query is shown by categorizing the relevant documents into important and less-important categories.

25. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the relevant documents are generated based on at least one of a user query, domain knowledge, and a user profile.

26. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the relevant documents are collected into a custom brochure.

27. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein when the user sets a sub-category as relevant, the relevant documents indexed under the relevant sub-category are categorized as important and the degree of relevance of each tab and each sub-category is updated accordingly.

28. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein when the user sets a sub-category as irrelevant, the relevant documents indexed under the irrelevant sub-category are categorized as less important and the degree of relevance of each tab and each sub-category is updated accordingly.

29. The program storage device of claim 23, wherein the relevance indicator comprises a bar which is shaded in to show a ratio of relevant product information with respect to all product information indexed under each sub-category.