Automated form layout based upon usage patterns

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10489503-B2
Application number	US-201815992893-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2018
Priority date	Dec 2, 2009
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

Historical form input field usage information of a group of input fields associated with a graphical user interface (GUI) form is used to automatically partition a subset of the group of input fields into a new form within a new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form. The new form includes a set of selectable options that allow a user to select between reorganizing the subset of the input fields according to historical input field usage analysis of the user and reorganizing the subset of the plurality of input fields according to historical input field usage analysis of a group of form users within which the user is a member. The subset of the input fields within the new form is reorganized responsive to different user selections among the set of selectable options.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
automatically partitioning, at a computing device as a runtime execution improvement to an executing computer application based upon historical usage characteristics of each of a plurality of input fields associated with a displayed graphical user interface (GUI) form of the computer application, a subset of the plurality of input fields into a new form within a new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form with a set of selectable options that allow a user to select between (i) reorganizing the subset of the plurality of input fields within the new form according to historical input field usage analysis of the user and (ii) reorganizing the subset of the plurality of input fields within the new form according to historical input field usage analysis of a group of form users within which the user is a member; and
reorganizing, as a further runtime execution improvement to the executing computer application, the subset of the plurality of input fields within the new form responsive to different user selections among the set of selectable options within the new form within the new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, during execution of the computer application:
identifying, via the computing device, information entry events associated with each of the plurality of input fields associated with the displayed GUI form within the historical usage characteristics;
summing, for each of the plurality of input fields, the identified information entry events associated with that input field;
associating a rank with each of the plurality of input fields based upon a quantity of the summed information entry events associated with each of the plurality of input fields; and
identifying the subset of the plurality of input fields as input fields with higher usage characteristics based upon the rank associated with each of the plurality of input fields.

3. The method of claim 1 , where the group of form users within which the user is the member comprises one of a project team, an organization, and a group of friends of the user.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying the subset of the plurality of input fields as input fields of the plurality of input fields with higher usage characteristics relative to other input fields of the plurality of input fields, and where automatically partitioning the subset of the plurality of input fields into the new form within the new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form comprises:
creating a new most-used tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form;
displaying the set of selectable options within the new most-used tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form;
initially selecting one of the set of selectable options that represents one of the user and the group of form users within which the user is the member; and
initially organizing the subset of the plurality of input fields with the higher usage characteristics within the new most-used tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form according to the historical input field usage analysis associated with the initially selected one of the user and the group of form users within which the user is the member.

5. The method of claim 1 , where automatically partitioning the subset of the plurality of input fields into the new form within the new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form comprises:
applying a form change rule to the historical usage characteristics of each of the plurality of input fields associated with the displayed GUI form; and
automatically partitioning input fields of the plurality of input fields with higher usage characteristics relative to other input fields of the plurality of input fields into the new form within the new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form based upon the applied form change rule.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
modifying, via the computing device during execution of the computer application, one of a form definition and executable code associated with the displayed GUI form to operate based upon the automated partitioning of the displayed GUI form; and
where automatically partitioning the subset of the plurality of input fields into the new form within the new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form comprises one of:
rendering, during execution of the computer application, the displayed GUI form using the modified form definition; and
executing, during execution of the computer application, the modified executable code associated with the displayed GUI form.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
gradually changing, during execution of the computer application, emphasis of graphical highlighting of at least one of the plurality of input fields within the new form within the new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form in response to detecting changes to frequency of use of the at least one of the plurality of input fields over time.

8. A system, comprising:
a display; and
a processor programmed to:
automatically partition, as a runtime execution improvement to an executing computer application based upon historical usage characteristics of each of a plurality of input fields associated with a displayed graphical user interface (GUI) form of the computer application, a subset of the plurality of input fields into a new form within a new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form with a set of selectable options that allow a user to select between (i) reorganizing the subset of the plurality of input fields within the new form according to historical input field usage analysis of the user and (ii) reorganizing the subset of the plurality of input fields within the new form according to historical input field usage analysis of a group of form users within which the user is a member; and
reorganize, as a further runtime execution improvement to the executing computer application, the subset of the plurality of input fields within the new form responsive to different user selections among the set of selectable options within the new form within the new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form.

9. The system of claim 8 , where the processor is further programmed to:
identify information entry events associated with each of the plurality of input fields associated with the displayed GUI form within the historical usage characteristics;
sum, for each of the plurality of input fields, the identified information entry events associated with that input field;
associate a rank with each of the plurality of input fields based upon a quantity of the summed information entry events associated with each of the plurality of input fields; and
identify the subset of the plurality of input fields as input fields with higher usage characteristics based upon the rank associated with each of the plurality of input fields.

10. The system of claim 8 , where the processor is further programmed to identify the subset of the plurality of input fields as input fields of the plurality of input fields with higher usage characteristics relative to other input fields of the plurality of input fields, and where, in being programmed to automatically partition the subset of the plurality of input fields into the new form within the new tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form, the processor is programmed to:
create a new most-used tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form;
display the set of selectable options within the new most-used tabbed portion of the displayed GUI form;
initially select one of the set of selectable options that represents one of the user and the group of form users within which the user is the member; and
initially organize the subset of the plurality of input f

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Padgett Samuel G
• Rella Sreedhar
• Speicher Steven K
• Tabb Michael J

Classifications

• G06F40/174 Primary

  Form filling; Merging · CPC title

• G06F40/103 Primary

  Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents (automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191) · CPC title

• G06F3/04895 Primary

  Guidance during keyboard input operation, e.g. prompting · CPC title

• G06F3/1431

  using a single graphics controller · CPC title

• G06F3/0481

  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 title