Application help functionality including suggested search

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10459745-B2
Application number	US-201514971508-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2015
Priority date	Dec 16, 2015
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

Software program “help” functionality includes features enhancing its relevance to users. An engine may receive/record context data arising from interactions between a user and the software program. The engine may process that context data to reference a plurality of sources (e.g., official help documentation, user blogs, partner web sites, etc.) and harvest relevant help information. Based upon stored context data and help information available from the plurality of sources, certain embodiments may generate suggested questions allowing further exploration of help issues. Some embodiments may offer help information in the form of an interactive “hotspot” focusing upon a specific UI element (e.g., icon). Processing the context data may allow the engine to assign a particular skill level (e.g., novice/intermediate/expert) to individual users, tailoring the help information to that skill level. The interactive nature of the help functionality may enhance its use in conjunction with complex workflows encountered in many software programs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
an in-memory database engine receiving a first interaction between a first user device having a first form factor and a software application;
the in-memory database engine storing in an in-memory database remote from the first user device, context data of the first interaction, the context data comprising a linkage between a page and a room of a workflow, with another page and another room of a different step of the workflow;
the in-memory database engine processing the first interaction according to the context data to formulate a query;
the in-memory database engine expressing the query as a suggested question in a panel embedded in an interface of a second user device remote from the first user device and from the in-memory database;
the in-memory database engine posing the query to a plurality of data sources based on the linkage, in response to the user selecting the suggested question;
the in-memory database engine collecting help information from one of the plurality of data sources in response to the query;
the in-memory database engine storing the help information;
the in-memory database engine weighting the help information based upon data source provenance, wherein a first weight of an official help source is greater than a second weight of an unofficial help source which is greater than a third weight of a raw internet search result;
the in-memory database engine displaying the help information in the panel according to the weighting; and
the in-memory database engine causing the help information to be displayed on a different device having a second form factor different from the first form factor, the in-memory database engine referencing a registry storing the first form factor to cause the help information to be displayed on the different device, the registry further storing the context data indicating creation of a new workflow.

2. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:
the in-memory database engine collecting additional help information from another of
the plurality of data sources in response to the query;
the in-memory database engine storing the additional help information; and
the in-memory database engine displaying the additional help information in the panel.

3. A method as in claim 2 further comprising:
the engine weighting the additional help information; and
the engine displaying the additional help information ranked according to the weighting.

4. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first user interaction comprises a step in a workflow and the context information identifies the workflow.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the workflow is defined by the software application.

6. A method as in claim 1 wherein the engine generates a keyword of the query based upon the context data.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodying a computer program for performing a method, said method comprising:
an in-memory database engine receiving a first interaction between a first user device having a first form factor and a software application;
the in-memory database engine storing in an in-memory database remote from the first user device, context data of the first interaction, the context data comprising a linkage between a page and a room of a workflow, with another page and another room of a different step of the workflow;
the in-memory database engine processing the first interaction according to the context data to formulate a query;
the in-memory database engine expressing the query as a suggested question in panel embedded in an interface of a second user device remote from the first user device and from the in-memory database;
the in-memory database engine posing the query to a plurality of data sources based on the linkage, in response to the user selecting the suggested question;
the in-memory database engine collecting help information from one of the plurality of data sources in response to the query;
the in-memory database engine storing the help information and the additional help information;
the in-memory database engine weighting the help information based upon data source provenance, wherein a first weight of an official help source is greater than a second weight of an unofficial help source which is greater than a third weight of a raw internet search result;
the in-memory database engine displaying the help information and the additional help information in the panel according to the weighting; and
the in-memory database engine causing the help information to be displayed on a different device having a second form factor different from the first form factor, the in-memory database engine referencing a registry storing the first form factor to cause the help information to be displayed on the different device, the registry further storing the context data indicating creation of a new workflow.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium as in claim 7 further comprising:
the in-memory database engine weighting the help information and the additional help information; and
the in-memory database engine displaying the additional help information ranked according to the weighting.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium as in claim 7 wherein:
the first user interaction comprises a step in a workflow and the context information identifies the workflow; and
the workflow is defined by the software application.

10. A computer system comprising:
one or more processors;
a software program, executable on said computer system, the software program configured to cause an in-memory database engine to:
receive a first interaction between a first user device having a first form factor and a software application;
store in an in-memory database remote from the first user device, context data of the first interaction, the context data comprising a linkage between a page and a room of a workflow, with another page and another room of a different step of the workflow;
process the first interaction according to context data from the in-memory database to formulate a query;
express the query as a suggested question in panel embedded in an interface of a second user device remote from the first user device and from the in-memory database;
pose the query to a plurality of data sources based on the linkage, in response to the user selecting the suggested question;
collect help information from one of the plurality of data sources in response to the query;
store the help information in the in-memory database;
assign a weight to the help information based upon a provenance of the one of the plurality of data sources, wherein a first weight of an official help source is greater than a second weight of an unofficial help source which is greater than a third weight of a raw internet search result;
display the help information in the panel according to the weight; and
cause the help information to be displayed on a different device having a second form factor different from the first form factor, by referencing a registry storing the first form factor to cause the help information to be displayed on the different device, the registry further storing the context data indicating creation of a new workflow.

11. A computer system as in claim 10 wherein:
the first user interaction comprises a step in a workflow and the context information identifies the workflow; and
the workflow is defined by the software application.

12. A computer system as in claim 10 wherein the software program is further configured to cause the in-memory database engine to:
collect additional help information from another of the plu

Assignees

• Business Objects Software Ltd

Inventors

• Fung Alfred
• McGregor Sean
• McConville Brian
• Jin Xing
• Dubinsky Trevor
• Leung Philip
• Kahana Ariel
• Paxian Stephen

Classifications

• G06F16/3322

  using system suggestions (G06F16/3325 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F16/3329

  Natural language query formulation · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F9/453 Primary

  Help systems · CPC title