Intelligent help system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. In a computer system, a method for aiding a user of a computer program, said method operating independent of said computer program, comprising the steps of:
- storing a held information database;
monitoring a series of user-directed events from an input device;
generating data indicating said series of user-directed events;
storing said generated data in a knowledge base;
storing a plurality of rules for analyzing said generated data to determine appropriate help information;
detecting a request for help information from the user;
testing said rules against said generated data using an inference engine, whereby rules which are satisfied by said data are proved rules;
selecting in response to the proved rules appropriate help information from said help information database; and
displaying said selected help information to the user.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An intelligent help system which processes information specific to a user and a system state is described. The system incorporates a monitoring device to determine which events to store as data in an historical queue. These data, as well as non-historical data (e.g., system state), are stored in a knowledge base. An inference engine tests rules against the knowledge base data, thereby providing a help tag. A display engine links the help tag with an appropriate solution tag to provide help text for display.
334 Citations
25 Claims
-
1. In a computer system, a method for aiding a user of a computer program, said method operating independent of said computer program, comprising the steps of:
-
storing a held information database; monitoring a series of user-directed events from an input device; generating data indicating said series of user-directed events; storing said generated data in a knowledge base; storing a plurality of rules for analyzing said generated data to determine appropriate help information; detecting a request for help information from the user; testing said rules against said generated data using an inference engine, whereby rules which are satisfied by said data are proved rules; selecting in response to the proved rules appropriate help information from said help information database; and displaying said selected help information to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. In a computer system, a method for aiding a user of a computer program, said method operating independent of said computer program, comprising the steps of:
-
storing a help information database; storing a knowledge base for maintaining data; identifying a series of user-directed events; comparing said identified series with data stored in the knowledge base; if said identified series is unknown to said knowledge base, asserting in said knowledge base data for indicating said unknown identified series; if said identified series contradicts said knowledge base, retracting in said knowledge base data which contradicts said identified series; if said identified series is already known to said knowledge base, reasserting in said knowledge base data for indicating said already known identified series; storing a plurality of rules for analyzing said knowledge base to determine appropriate help information; detecting a request for help information from the user; testing said rules against said knowledge from the user; testing said rules against said knowledge base using an inference engine, whereby rules which are satisfied by data stored in the knowledge base are proved rules; selecting in response to said testing step appropriate help information from said help information database; and displaying said selected help information to the user.
-
-
15. A help information system for aiding a user comprising:
-
a computer having a processor and a memory; a display device coupled to said computer; an input device coupled to said computer; monitoring means coupled to the input device for monitoring a sequence of user-directed events and for generating data indicating said events; a knowledge base coupled to said monitoring means and stored in said memory, said knowledge base comprising said generated data, a plurality of rules for analyzing said generated data to determine appropriate help information, and a help information database for storing said appropriate help information; inference engine means, coupled to said knowledge base, for applying said rules to said data to generate an inference engine outputs and display engine means, coupled to said inference engine and coupled to said help information database, for interpreting said inference engine output to select appropriate help information for display by said display device to the user. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A help information system for aiding a user comprising:
-
a computer having a processor and a memory; an input device coupled to said computer; a knowledge base, coupled to said memory, for maintaining data; a plurality of rules, coupled to said memory, for analyzing said knowledge base; means, coupled to said memory, for identifying a series of user-directed events from said input device; means, coupled to said memory, for updating said knowledge base with said identified series; means, coupled to said memory, for detecting a request for help information from the user; a help information database, coupled to said memory, for selecting appropriate help information; an inference engine, coupled to said memory, for testing said rules against said knowledge base to generate a help solution tag; a display engine, coupled to said memory, for selecting help information from said help information database using said help solution tag; and a display for displaying said selected help information to the user. - View Dependent Claims (25)
-
Specification