Adaptive hypermedia presentation method and system

• US 5,799,292 A
• Filed: 09/25/1995
• Issued: 08/25/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hekmatpour, Amir
• Primary Examiner(s): Downs, Robert W.
• Application Number:
  US08/533,120
• Time in Patent Office: 1,065 Days
• Field of Search: 395/762, 395/344, 395/345, 395/346, 395/615, 395/356, 395/765, 395/778, 395/12, 395/200.47, 395/200.48, 395/200.49, 340/825.19, 434/112, 345/337, 345/333, 345/334, 345/356, 707/501, 707/515, 707/513
• US Class Current: 706/11
• 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 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/065 Combinations of audio and video presentations, e.g. videotapes, videodiscs, television systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/04 characterised by modifying the teaching programme in response to a wrong answer, e.g. repeating the question, supplying a further explanation

Abstract

In a computer system comprising a hypermedia computing environment, the presentation of hypermedia objects is adapted to usage of the system. The frequency with which hypermedia objects are used is tracked and the objects are ordered such that the most frequently used hypermedia objects are made most accessible. The system also adapts to user characteristics such as user experience level, user disabilities and user preferences. For example, hypermedia objects inappropriate for beginner users are not displayed when a novice is using the system. Further, visual hypermedia objects are ordered ahead of audio hypermedia object for hearing impaired users.

Claims

1. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, a method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) acquiring an adaptation parameter; and

(b) automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter;

(c) wherein each hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects of said logical page contains a set of attributes, said set of attributes including at least some of;

an object content method (OCM) for initializing and updating content of the hypermedia object;

a display order (DO) representative of order of appearance of the hypermedia object within a window of the logical page;

a display order method (DOM) for initializing and updating the value of DO;

an activation frequency coefficient (AFC) representing frequency of hypermedia object activation;

an activation frequency coefficient method (AFCM) for initializing and updating the value of AFC; and

a hide condition (HC) for concealing the hypermedia object from a window of the logical page, and wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises automatically adjusting at least one attribute of said set of attributes of at least one hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects; and

(d) wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises automatically adjusting at least one attribute of at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said at least one attribute comprising content of the hypermedia object, display order within a window of the logical page, a frequency of use characteristic, or said hide condition.

2. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, a method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) acquiring an adaptation parameter; and

(b) automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

(c) wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises automatically adjusting the display order of said plurality of hypermedia objects by ordering a most frequently used hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects of the logical page at a top of a primary window of said logical page.

3. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, an adaptive method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) automatically acquiring within the hypermedia computing environment a user based characteristic or a system utilization based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

(b) automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

(c) wherein said automatically acquiring step (a) comprises determining as said adaptation parameter at least one of frequency of direct selection and frequency of indirect selection of at least one hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects of the logical page.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said acquiring step (a) further comprises determining said frequency of direct selection by counting a number of times said at least one hypermedia object is directly selected within said logical page.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said acquiring step (a) comprises determining said frequency of indirect selection by counting a number of times said at least one hypermedia object is called by another hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said acquiring step (a) comprises combining said frequency of direct selection and said frequency of indirect selection into a single frequency of selection value comprising said frequency of use characteristic, each of said frequency of direct selection and said frequency of indirect selection having an individual weight assigned thereto with regard to said combining into said single frequency of selection value.

7. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, an adaptive method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) automatically acquiring within the hypermedia computing environment a user based characteristic or a system utilization based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

(b) automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

(c) wherein said automatically acquiring step (a) comprises determining a physiological user characteristic, said physiological user characteristic comprising said adaptation parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said physiological user characteristic comprises a hearing impairment, and wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises at least one of ordering non-audio based hypermedia objects ahead of audio based hypermedia objects within said plurality of hypermedia objects, removing audio based hypermedia objects within said plurality of hypermedia objects from a window of said logical page, or replacing audio based hypermedia objects with non-audio hypermedia based objects within a window of said logical page.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said physiological user characteristic comprises color blindness, and wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises altering a color scheme of said presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects to account for said color blindness.

10. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical sage and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, an adaptive method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) automatically acquiring within the hypermedia computing environment a user-based characteristic or a system utilization-based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

(b) automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

(c) wherein said automatically acquiring step (a) includes determining a user experience level, said user experience level comprising said user based parameter.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises suppressing display of at least one hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said at least one hypermedia object having said display thereof suppressed being inappropriate for said user experience level.

12. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, an adaptive method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) automatically acquiring within the hypermedia computing environment a user-based characteristic or a system utilization-based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

(b) automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

(c) wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises automatically adjusting a display order of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said display window in response to said adaptation parameter.

13. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, an adaptive method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) automatically acquiring within the hypermedia computing environment a user-based characteristic or a system utilization-based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

(b) automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

(c) wherein said logical page comprises a pop-up, hot spot selection window having multiple hot spot hypermedia functions, each hot spot hypermedia function comprising a hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects, and wherein said automatically adjusting step (b) comprises automatically adjusting presentation of said multiple hot spot hypermedia functions within said pop-up, hot spot selection window in response to said adaptation parameter.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said acquiring step (a) comprises determining a frequency of use for each of said multiple hot spot hypermedia functions, said frequency of use comprising said adaptation parameter, and wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises visibly designating a most frequently used hot spot hypermedia function as a default hot spot hypermedia function of said multiple hot spot hypermedia functions.

15. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, an adaptive method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

automatically acquiring within the hypermedia computing environment a user-based characteristic or a system utilization-based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for automatically adjusting display order of said plurality of hypermedia objects by ordering a most frequently used hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects at a top of a primary window of said logical page.

16. A hypermedia computing system having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for automatically acquiring a user based characteristic or a system utilization based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said means for acquiring comprises means for determining as said adaptation parameter at least one of frequency of direct selection and frequency of indirect selection of at least one hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects of the logical page.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said means for acquiring further comprises means for determining said frequency of direct selection by counting a number of times said at least one hypermedia object is directly selected within said logical page.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said means for acquiring comprises means for determining said frequency of indirect selection by counting a number of times said at least one hypermedia object is called by another hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein said means for acquiring comprises means for combining said frequency of direct selection and said frequency of indirect selection into a single frequency of selection value comprising said frequency of use characteristic, each of said frequency of direct selection and said frequency of indirect selection having an individual weight assigned thereto with regard to said combining into said single frequency of selection value.

20. A hypermedia computing system having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for automatically acquiring a user based characteristic or a system utilization based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said means for acquiring comprises means for determining a user based parameter, said user based parameter comprising said adaptation parameter, and wherein said means for acquiring further comprises means for determining a physiological user characteristic, said physiological user characteristic comprising said adaptation parameter.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said physiological user characteristic comprises a hearing impairment, and wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises at least one of means for ordering non-audio based hypermedia objects ahead of audio based hypermedia objects within said plurality of hypermedia objects, for removing audio based hypermedia objects within said plurality of hypermedia objects from a window of said logical page or for replacing audio based hypermedia objects with non-audio hypermedia based objects within a window of said logical page.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein said physiological user characteristic comprises color blindness, and wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for altering a color scheme of said presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects to account for said color blindness.

23. A hypermedia computing system having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for automatically acquiring a user based characteristic or a system utilization based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said means for acquiring comprises means for determining a user based parameter, said user based parameter comprising said adaptation parameter, and wherein said means for acquiring includes means for determining a user experience level, said user experience level comprising said user based parameter.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for suppressing display of at least one hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said at least one hypermedia object having said display thereof suppressed being inappropriate for said user experience level.

25. A hypermedia computing system having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for acquiring an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for automatically adjusting a display order of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said display window in response to said adaptation parameter.

26. A hypermedia computing system having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for acquiring an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said logical page comprises a pop-up, hot spot selection window having multiple hot spot hypermedia functions, each hot spot hypermedia function comprising a hypermedia object of said plurality of hypermedia objects, and wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for automatically adjusting presentation of said multiple hot spot hypermedia functions within said pop-up, hot spot selection window in response to said adaptation parameter.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said means for acquiring comprises means for determining a frequency of use for each of said multiple hot spot hypermedia functions, said frequency of use comprising said adaptation parameter, and wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises visibly designating a most frequently used hot spot hypermedia function as a default hot spot hypermedia function of said multiple hot spot hypermedia functions.

28. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, an adaptive method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

automatically acquiring within the hypermedia computing environment a user based characteristic or a system utilization based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said automatically acquiring comprises acquiring an adaptation parameter comprising at least one of;

a frequency of use characteristic of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page;

a frequency of direct selection of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page;

a frequency of indirect selection of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page;

or a user based parameter.

29. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, a method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

acquiring an adaptation parameter;

automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said acquiring comprises acquiring multiple adaptation parameters, said multiple adaptation parameters comprising at least some of a frequency of use characteristic of at least one hypermedia object of the plurality of hypermedia objects of the logical page, a frequency of direct selection of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page, a frequency of indirect selection of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page, and a user based parameter, and wherein said automatically adjusting comprises automatically adjusting said at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page in response to said multiple adaptation parameters.

30. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, a method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical pare, said method comprising the steps of:

acquiring an adaptation parameter;

automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page comprise a predefined collection of only related hypermedia objects with information content which can be made available to a user of the hypermedia computing environment, and wherein said logical page comprises a primary window and one or more secondary windows, said automatically adjusting comprising automatically adjusting said at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said primary window and said one or more secondary windows.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein said logical page provides physical and logical correlation of said plurality of hypermedia objects therein, said physical correlation being provided by placement and presentation of the hypermedia objects within the logical page, and said logical correlation being maintained by hypermedia links to said primary window or said one or more secondary windows of said logical page, and wherein said adjusting step (b) comprises adjusting at least one of physical or logical correlation of at least one hypermedia object of the plurality of hypermedia objects in the logical page.

32. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, a method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

acquiring an adaptation parameter;

automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein the said automatically adjusting comprises dynamically adjusting both said information content and said presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page in response to said adaptation parameter.

33. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, a method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical pare, said method comprising the steps of:

acquiring an adaptation parameter;

automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said automatically adjusting comprises automatically adjusting information content of said plurality of hypermedia objects by ordering, adding or removing hypermedia objects in the logical page based on said acquired adaptation parameter.

34. In a hypermedia computing environment having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, a method for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page, said method comprising the steps of:

acquiring an adaptation parameter;

automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said logical page comprises multiple windows and a hypermedia link network, and wherein said automatically adjusting comprises automatically adjusting the hypermedia link network for said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page based upon said acquired adaptation parameter.

35. A hypermedia computing system having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for automatically acquiring a user based characteristic or a system utilization based characteristic, and producing therefrom an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said means for acquiring comprises means for acquiring an adaptation parameter which comprises at least one of a frequency of use characteristic of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page, a frequency of direct selection of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page, a frequency of indirect selection of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page, or a user based parameter.

36. A hypermedia computing system having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for acquiring an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said means for acquiring comprises means for acquiring multiple adaptation parameters, said multiple adaptation parameters comprising at least some of a frequency of use characteristic of at least one hypermedia object of the plurality of hypermedia objects of the logical page, a frequency of direct selection of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page, a frequency of indirect selection of at least one of the hypermedia objects of the logical page, and a user based parameter, and wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for automatically adjusting said at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page in response to said multiple adaptation parameters.

37. A hypermedia computing system having a logical page and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for acquiring an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical pave in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page comprise a predefined collection of only related hypermedia objects with information content which can be made available to a user of the hypermedia computing environment, and wherein said logical page comprises a primary window and one or more secondary windows, said adjusting comprising automatically adjusting said at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said primary window and said one or more secondary windows.

38. A hypermedia computing system having a logical sage and a plurality of hypermedia objects therein, at least some hypermedia objects of said plurality of hypermedia objects comprising information content, said system including means for managing at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects, said system comprising:

means for acquiring an adaptation parameter;

means for automatically adjusting at least one of information content or presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within said logical page in response to said adaptation parameter; and

wherein said means for automatically adjusting comprises means for dynamically adjusting both said information content and said presentation of said plurality of hypermedia objects within the logical page in response to said adaptation parameter.