Method and system for providing relevant tips to a user of an application program

• US 6,542,163 B2
• Filed: 05/05/1999
• Issued: 04/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gorbet, David P. H., Nixon, Robert M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Application Number:
  US09/307,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20020126140A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,427 Days
• Field of Search: 345/711, 345/708, 345/709, 345/710, 345/705, 345/715, 345/808, 345/809, 345/811, 345/812, 345/846, 345/765, 345/768, 345/730, 345/707, 707/512
• US Class Current: 715/711
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

A facility for a presentation program displays unobtrusive, context-sensitive and customizable tips for a user of a program. Event and state are two types of tip conditions that will cause the facility to display a tip icon and/or a tip message window. Events are created by an action or series of actions. State conditions may be related to the state of the program and they are usually detected when the user has not used the application for a predetermined period of time. The tip icon is usually disposed adjacent to the object that triggered the tip condition. Generally, a tip message window (tip balloon) is only displayed if the user has selected the tip icon for the tip condition. However, if the tip condition has a high priority value, then the tip message window may be immediately displayed without the tip icon.

Claims

1. In a computing device, a method for automatically indicating tips for conditions detected in an application program, the method comprising:

detecting an occurrence of a condition associated with a tip in the application program;

determining that the tip is relevant to the- current usage of the application program; and

displaying the tip on an area of the user interface so that the condition may be acknowledged, the conditions associated with the tips being stored in a buffer so that each tip associated with the condition stored in the buffer is individually displayed, the buffer providing an order for storing tips that includes first in first out (FIFO), last in first out (LIFO), and a determined order based on at least one characteristic of each tip.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the occurrence of the condition further comprises identifying a type for the condition including event and state.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each condition has a priority value.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the priority value is a predetermined value.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the priority value is automatically determined according to the state condition of the application program.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein a high priority value associated with the condition will cause the immediate display of the tip.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying a graphic image at a location adjacent to an object associated with a condition that does not have a high priority value; and

when the graphic image is selected, causing the tip associated with the condition to be displayed and the graphic image to not be displayed.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the graphic image is an icon.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the icon is translucent.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the graphic image is selectable and sized greater than a minimum size that is unobtrusive to the user.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the displaying of the graphic image is delayed by a determined time interval.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein a medium priority value associated with the condition causes the immediate display of the graphic image.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein a state condition of the application program is employed to determine a time interval for causing the display of the graphic image when the application is idle.

14. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

disabling at least one type of condition; and

displaying only tips associated with types of conditions that are not disabled.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the event of the type for the condition includes printing errors and edit commands.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the state of the type for the condition is detected with an idle loop that performs at least one of style checking and clip art checking.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a description indicating how to perform an action that will correct the condition associated with the tip.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising disabling a display of the tip.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined order is based on tip characteristics that include type, category, priority value, and length of time stored in the buffer.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the buffer is associated with a section of data.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the section of data is a slide in a slide show presentation.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the occurrence of the condition further comprises identifying a category of the condition that includes edit, style, clip art and presentation.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

disabling at least one category of the condition; and

displaying only tips associated with the categories of the conditions that are not disabled.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising a user profile for the user.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the user profile includes a proficiency level of the user.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the user profile includes a measure of the user'"'"'s urgency in completing tasks with the application program.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the measure is a difference between a current speed of the user employing the application program and an average speed.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the user profile includes a list that identifies each application program that is currently available to the user.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the user profile includes a list identifying a help request previously made by the user.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the user profile includes a list identifying each application used by the user.

31. The method of claim 24, further comprising modifying the user profile based on an action of the user, the user profile being employed to determine when the tip associated with the condition is relevant to the user.

32. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a control with the tip, the control providing for the automatic correction of the condition associated with the tip; and

automatically correcting the condition associated with the tip and removing the display of the control and the tip when the control is selected.

33. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a control with the tip, the control providing for the display of additional help information associated with the condition; and

automatically displaying the additional help information when the control is selected.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising displaying a preview that illustrates what changes will be made if the control is selected.

35. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying text that identifies the type of the condition when a pointing mechanism is positioned over a graphic image associated with the condition for the relevant tip.

36. The method of claim 1, further comprising a control that causes the simultaneous display of every relevant tip associated with each current state and tip condition in the application program.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the control provides for selecting the type and priority of the relevant tip to be displayed.

38. The method of claim 1, further comprising a control that provides for automatically correcting a plurality of conditions associated with the tip.

39. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in any one of claims 1-18 and 19-16.

40. A system for automatically indicating tips for conditions detected in an application program, the system comprising:

(a) a display for displaying a tip;

(b) a processor for implementing the logical instructions, including;

(i) detecting an occurrence of a condition associated with the tip in the application program;

(ii) determining that the tip is relevant to the current usage of the application program; and

(iii) displaying the tip on an area of the user interface so that the condition may be acknowledged, the conditions associated with the tips being stored in a buffer so that each tip associated with the condition stored in the buffer is individually displayed, the buffer providing an order for storing tips that includes first in first out (FIFO), last in first out (LIFO), and a determined order based on at least one characteristic of each tip.