Modifiable contextual help content provided in-line within an application

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9804736-B2
Application number	US-201314028586-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2013
Priority date	Sep 18, 2012
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with providing contextual content along with elements within an application are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes icon logic configured to generate, in response to detecting a selection of a page element, an icon that indicates whether contextual content associated with the page element is available. The page element is a display element of a graphical user interface (GUI) for an application. The apparatus includes context logic configured to generate a context panel in response to detecting an input associated with the icon. The context logic is configured to generate the context panel with a first tab and a second tab. The first tab includes a description of the page element and the second tab includes a set of comments from users about the page element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
icon logic configured to generate, in response to detecting a user selection of a page element on a display screen, an icon that indicates whether contextual content associated with the page element is available, wherein the page element is a display element of a graphical user interface (GUI) for an application that is textual content or a control function of the application, wherein the icon logic is configured to select the icon for generation, from amongst a plurality of icons, based upon a combination of (i) a determination of whether a description is available for the page element, and (ii) a determination of whether a set of comments submitted by users are available for the page element; and
context logic configured to generate and display a context panel in response to detecting an input associated with the icon, wherein the context logic is configured to generate the context panel with a first tab and a second tab, and wherein the context panel is displayed in a popup window visually in front of the GUI,
wherein the context logic is further configured to, responsive to (a) the description being available for the page element and (b) the comments being available for the page element, (i) generate and transmit a first query to a first database to retrieve the description for the page element, and (ii) generate and transmit a second query to a second database to retrieve the set of comments associated with the page element,
wherein the first tab is populated to include the description of the page element retrieved from the first database, and wherein the second tab is populated to include the set of comments associated with the page element retrieved from the second database,
wherein the icon logic is configured to generate and display the context panel separate from a displayed page that includes the icon, and
wherein the context logic is configured to dynamically modify the application by inserting a tag into program code of the application that when triggered by the input causes the context logic to generate and display the context panel.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the icon logic is configured to select a color for the icon, from amongst a plurality of colors, based upon the combination of (i) the determination of whether the description is available for the page element, and (ii) the determination of whether the set of comments are available for the page element.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the context logic is configured to modify, in response to receiving input within the context panel, the contextual content by adding the input to the first database in a location that correlates with the page element, and wherein the context logic is configured to generate the context panel with the contextual content to provide crowd sourced contextual content in-line within the application.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the icon logic is configured to generate the icon for the page element by determining a status of the contextual content associated with the page element by querying the first database to retrieve an indicator of the status.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the icon logic is configured to generate the icon to indicate a status of the contextual content, and wherein the contextual content is help information associated with the page element.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the page element is text or a graphic.

7. A method, comprising:
generating, in response to detecting selection of a page element on a display screen, an icon that indicates whether contextual content associated with the page element is available, wherein the page element is a display element of a graphical user interface (GUI) for an application that is textual content or a control function of the application, wherein the icon is selected for generation, from amongst a plurality of icons, based upon a combination of (i) a determination of whether a description is available for the page element, and (ii) a determination of whether a set of comments submitted by users are available for the page element;
generating and displaying, by at least a processor, a context panel in response to detecting an input associated with the icon, wherein generating the context panel includes generating a first tab and a second tab, and wherein the context panel is displayed in a popup window visually in front of the GUI on the display screen,
responsive to the description being available for the page element, generating and transmitting a first query to a first database to retrieve the description for the page element,
responsive to the set of comments being available for the page element, generating and transmitting a second query to a second database to retrieve the set of comments associated with the page element,
populating the first tab to include the description of the page element retrieved from the first database, and populating the second tab to include the set of comments associated with the page element retrieved from the second database, and wherein generating the context panel includes generating the context panel separate from a displayed page that includes the icon, and
dynamically modifying, by at least the processor, the application by inserting a tag program code of the application that when triggered by the input causes the context panel to be generated and displayed on the display screen.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein generating the icon includes selecting a color for the icon, from amongst a plurality of colors, based upon the combination of (i) the determination of whether the description is available for the page element, and (ii) the determination of whether the set of comments are available for the page element.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
modifying, in response to receiving input within the context panel, the contextual content by adding the input to a location in the first database that correlates with the page element, and wherein generate the context panel with the contextual content provides crowd sourced contextual content in-line within the application.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein generating the icon for the page element includes determining a status of the contextual content associated with the page element by querying the first database to retrieve an indicator of the status.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein generating the context panel includes retrieving information from at least the first database and the second database to populate the first tab and the second tab.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the icon is generated to indicate a status of the contextual content.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the page element is text or a graphic.

14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the selection of the page element is a mouseover event of the page element.

15. A system comprising:
context logic configured to display contextual help content for a page element of an application by generating a context panel with a first tab and a second tab in a popup window on a display screen,
wherein the context logic is further configured to, responsive to (a) a description being available for the page element and (b) a set of comments submitted by users being available for the page element, (i) generate and transmit a first query to a first database to retrieve the description for the page element, and (ii) generate and transmit a second query to a second database to retrieve the set of comments associated with the page element,
wherein the first tab is populated to include the description of the page element an

Assignees

• Marvell World Trade Ltd

Inventors

• Sutardja Pantas
• Chang Rick
• Shao Haiping
• Chan Robin Yuk-Bun

Classifications

• G06F9/453

  Help systems · CPC title

• G06F3/04817 Primary

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · 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