Personalizing user interfaces across operating systems

• US 20020118223A1
• Filed: 02/28/2001
• Published: 08/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Trewin, Sharon M., Steichen, Jennifer L., Kim, Myung W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,089,499 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/033 Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user , e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor digitisers characterised by the transducing means G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0489 using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F

Abstract

A user-centered interface agent eases the problem of unfamiliar user interfaces on host computers. The agent operates by learning user preferences and typical behaviors and predicting the user'"'"'s preferred user interface for different types of host computers. Most of the agent'"'"'s learning is through observation, requiring minimal-initialization by the user. The interface agent consists of a learning program which operates on the user'"'"'s primary computer, a shadow program which is installed on a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and a remote program which operates on host computers. The role of the PDA includes the transfer of data between the primary and remote machines, and the PDA can also be the user'"'"'s primary computer. On the primary computer, the agent learns a user'"'"'s preference by observing the user'"'"'s actions. The user may run agent-training module or directly query and modify the agent'"'"'s current state of knowledge, but the user is not forced to explicitly teach the agent. The learning algorithm may be statistical, rule-based, case-based, neural network, or employ any other technique for reasoning under uncertainty. The automated way of reaching a usable configuration has a particular advantage for individuals with disabilities who require configuration before they can use a new computer system.

Claims

1. A computer User Interface Agent comprising:

means for learning computer user preferences and behaviors on a primary computer; and

means for reasoning about the learned preferences and behaviors and a host computer'"'"'s capabilities for predicting a user'"'"'s preferred interface on the host computer.

2. The computer User Interface Agent according to claim 1, wherein said means for learning comprises a software module which downloads user preferences on the primary computer and observes user behavior in using the primary computer, the means for learning including storing means for storing data on preferences and behavior.

3. The computer User Interface Agent according to claim 2, wherein said storing means stores data in operating system independent format.

4. The computer User Interface Agent according to claim 3, wherein said means for reasoning comprises a software module which accesses data stored by said storing means and accesses information of the host computer'"'"'s hardware and software capabilities and generates a user interface on the host computer which most closely approximates the user interface on the primary computer.

5. The computer User Interface Agent according to claim 4, further comprising a utility program running on the host computer providing information on the host computer'"'"'s hardware and software capabilities and responding to the means for reasoning to generate the user interface on the host computer.

6. The computer User Interface Agent according to claim 5, wherein the User Interface Agent runs on a personal digital assistant (PDA) which is first connected to the primary computer to learn user preferences and behaviors and then connected to the host computer to predict the user'"'"'s preferred interface.

7. The computer User Interface Agent according to claim 5, wherein the User Interface Agent runs on the primary computer to first learn user preferences and behaviors and subsequently, through a remote connection to the host computer, to predict the user'"'"'s preferred interface on the host computer.

8. A method for personalizing user interfaces across operating systems comprising the steps of:

learning about a user'"'"'s preferences and behavior on a primary computer;

storing data defining the learned preferences and behavior; and

reasoning about the stored learned preferences and behavior and knowledge of a host computer'"'"'s capabilities to predict a user'"'"'s preferred interface on the host computer.

9. The method for personalizing user interfaces across operating systems according to claim 8, wherein the stored data is in a format independent of operating systems.

10. The method for personalizing user interfaces across operating systems according to claim 9, wherein the step of learning is performed by a software learning module running on a personal digital assistant (PDA), the software learning module operating to download user preferences on the primary computer and to observe user behavior in using the primary computer.

11. The method for personalizing user interfaces across operating systems according to claim 10, wherein the step of reasoning is performed by a software reasoning module running on the PDA which accesses stored data and accesses information of the host computer'"'"'s hardware and software capabilities and generates a user interface on the host computer that most closely approximates the user interface on the primary computer.

12. The method for personalizing user interfaces across operating systems according to claim 11, further comprising the step of running a utility program running on the host computer to provide information on the host computer'"'"'s hardware and software capabilities that is accessed by the reasoning software module to generate the user interface on the host computer.

13. The method for personalizing user interfaces across operating systems according to claim 9, wherein the step of learning is performed by a software learning module running on the primary computer, the software learning module operating to download user preferences on the primary computer and to observe user behavior in using the primary computer.

14. The method for personalizing user interfaces across operating systems according to claim 13, wherein the step of reasoning is performed by a software reasoning module running on the primary computer which accesses stored data and accesses information of the host computer'"'"'s hardware and software capabilities and generates a user interface on the host computer that most closely approximates the user interface on the primary computer.

15. The method for personalizing user interfaces across operating systems according to claim 14, further comprising the step of running a utility program running on the host computer to provide information on the host computer'"'"'s hardware and software capabilities that is accessed by the reasoning software module to generate the user interface on the host computer.

17. The interface agent according to claim 16, wherein said means for learning comprises a software module which downloads user preferences on the primary computer and observes user behavior in using the primary computer, the means for learning including storing means for storing data in operating system independent format on preferences and behavior.

18. The interface according to claim 17, wherein said means for reasoning comprises a software module which accesses data stored by said storing means and accesses information of the host computer'"'"'s hardware and software capabilities and generates a user interface on the host computer which most closely approximates the user interface on the primary computer.

19. The interface according to claim 18, further comprising a utility program running on the host computer providing information on the host computer'"'"'s hardware and software capabilities and responding to the means for reasoning to generate the user interface on the host computer, said reasoning software module further including a utility software module which may be installed on the host computer to implement essential preferences for the disabled user on the host computer where the operating system of the host computer does not support the essential preferences and the utility program running on the host computer translates the essential preferences into application program interface (API) functions calls on the host computer.

20. The interface according to claim 19, wherein the utility software module includes assistance to the disabled user for installing the utility software module.

16. An interface agent that improves accessibility of computers running different operating systems for users with disabilities comprising:

means for automatic learning of computer user preferences and behaviors on a primary computer, said means for learning observes a user'"'"'s actions, particularly keystrokes and error correction behavior; and

means for reasoning about the learned preferences and behaviors and a host computer'"'"'s capabilities for predicting and automatically implementing a user'"'"'s preferred interface on the host computer.