Method, apparatus, and system for monitoring user-interface operation to facilitate analysis and report generation

• US 7,904,079 B1
• Filed: 02/16/2005
• Issued: 03/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Hung, Yat-Sang, Wingo, Louie E., Blinn, Benjamin P., Lundy, Michael T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stephen; Emem
• Application Number:
  US11/058,863
• Time in Patent Office: 2,211 Days
• Field of Search: 455/405, 455/407, 455/2.01, 455/419, 455/418, 455 6711- 677, 455/408, 455/423, 455/412.1, 4551151-1154, 455/226.1, 4554561-457, 379111-1141, 379101- 35, 725 9- 22, 340/635
• US Class Current: 455/423
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42136 Administration or customisation of services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

A method, system, and apparatus for monitoring user-interface operation. One or more wireless communication devices, such as cell phones, will automatically log user-interface events (such as key-presses) and user-interface states (such as display screen state) and will transmit the log-data, via a wireless link, to a central server. The server will then compile the log-data and generate useful output reports regarding user-interface operation. Such reports can assist device manufacturers and distributors (e.g., wireless carriers), triggering changes in user-interface design so as to improve user experience.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring user-interface operation comprising:

in each of one or more wireless communication devices, logging data that includes (i) recorded indications of one or more user-interface events incurred by the respective device together with respective time stamps of the incurred user-interface events, and (ii) recorded indications of one or more user-interface states incurred on the respective device together with respective time stamps of the incurred user-interface states; and

transmitting the logged data from each of the one or more wireless communication devices, via a wireless link, to a first server and a second server, to facilitate programmatic analysis of the logged data to determine an amount of time taken to transition the user-interface from a designated first user-interface state to a designated second user-interface state, and to facilitate generation of one or more reports regarding operation of the user-interface, wherein at least one of the one or more reports indicate the amount of time, and

wherein, based on correlation data that correlates the logged user-interface events and the logged user-interface states with addresses of the first server and the second server, at least a given one of the one or more wireless communication devices transmits a first portion of the data logged by the given device to the first server and transmits a second portion of the data logged by the given device to the second server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein logging the data in the given device of the one or more wireless communication devices comprises:

each time the given device incurs a user-interface event, recording in data storage of the given device an indication of the incurred user-interface event together with a respective timestamp; and

each time the given device transitions to a user-interface state, recording in the data storage of the given device an indication of the user-interface state together with a respective timestamp.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the logged data on at least one of the first server and the second server;

programmatically analyzing the logged data to determine the amount of time that it takes to transition the user-interface from the designated first state to the designated second state; and

generating the at least one report.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the logged data comprises receiving the logged data from multiple wireless communication devices;

and wherein the amount of time is an average for the multiple devices.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the logged data on at least one of the first server and the second server; and

programmatically analyzing the logged data to translate one or more user-interface events into a summary user-interface event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each address of the first server and the second server comprises a network address selected from the group consisting of an Internet Protocol (IP) address and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the logged data includes addresses of the first server and the second server to which the logged data should be transmitted.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more wireless communication devices communicates over the wireless link with a radio access network and in turn via a packet-switched network with at least one of the first server and the second server.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the logged data from a plurality of wireless communication devices on at least one of the first server and the second server; and

analyzing the received logged data at the at least one of the first server and the second server, and producing an output report regarding user-interface operation.

10. A system for monitoring user-interface operation comprising:

a network interface;

a processing unit;

data storage; and

program logic stored in the data storage and executable by the processing unit

(i) to receive log-data via the network interface from one or more wireless communication devices, wherein the log-data includes (a) recorded indications of one or more user-interface events incurred by the respective device together with respective time stamps of the incurred user-interface events, and (b) recorded indications of one or more user-interface states incurred on the respective device together with respective time stamps of the incurred user-interface states,

(ii) to analyze the log-data to determine an amount of time taken to transition the user-interface from a designated first user-interface state to a designated second user-interface state, and

(iii) to facilitate generation of one or more reports regarding operation of the user-interface, wherein at least one of the one or more reports indicate the amount of time,

wherein the program logic is further executable to perform at least one function selected from the group consisting of (i) translating one or more user-interface events in the log-data into a summary user-interface event and (ii) translating device-specific user-interface data into device-independent user-interface data, and

wherein the one or more user-interface events comprises a sequence of key-presses by a user of a given wireless communication device as the user navigates a menu structure of the user-interface, and the summary user-interface event comprises a summary representation of the sequence of key-presses including a specification of a duration of time it took for the user to navigate through the menu structure.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

the one or more wireless communication devices, wherein the one or more wireless communication devices are programmed to record and transmit the log-data.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the program logic is executable to analyze the log-data so as to determine what time of day users tend to use their devices.

13. A method of monitoring user-interface operation in a wireless communication device (WCD), wherein the WCD stores a first destination-indicator and a second destination-indicator, the method comprising:

the WCD logging a first plurality of data that (i) specifies a first set of user-interface events incurred by the WCD over time together with respective time stamps of the first set of incurred user-interface events, and (ii) indicates a first set of user-interface states incurred on the WCD over time together with respective time stamps of the first set of incurred user-interface states;

the WCD logging a second plurality of data that (i) specifies a second set of user-interface events incurred by the WCD over time together with respective time stamps of the second set of incurred user-interface events, and (ii) indicates a second set of user-interface states incurred on the WCD over time together with respective time stamps of the second set of incurred user-interface states;

based on correlation data that correlates the first destination-indicator with the first set of user-interface events and the first set of user-interface states represented in the first plurality of data, the WCD determining the first destination-indicator;

the WCD transmitting the first plurality of data, via a wireless link, to a first server, wherein the first server is associated with the first destination-indicator, thereby facilitating analysis of the first plurality of data by the first server;

based on correlation data that correlates the second destination-indicator with the second set of user-interface events and the second set of user-interface states represented in the second plurality of data, the WCD determining the second destination-indicator; and

the WCD transmitting the second plurality of data, via the wireless link, to a second server, wherein the second server is associated with the second destination-indicator, thereby facilitating programmatic analysis of the logged data to determine an amount of time taken to transition the user-interface from a designated first user-interface state to a designated second user-interface state, and to facilitate generation of one or more reports regarding operation of the user-interface, wherein at least one of the one or more reports indicate the amount of time.