Associating ancillary information with an application user interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9886174-B2
Application number	US-201313948522-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2013
Priority date	Aug 13, 2012
Publication date	Feb 6, 2018
Grant date	Feb 6, 2018

Abstract

Associating user interface elements with information ancillary to said user interface elements includes creating one or more items of user interface element ancillary information, receiving a request for user interface element ancillary information, the request identifying the context in which the information is to be used, searching, using a processor, said one or more items of user interface element ancillary information for items matching the context in which the information is to be used, and returning one or more items of user interface element ancillary information matching the context in which the information is to be used.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, from a user of a user interface element in a computer application, a request for ancillary information associated with the user interface element; searching, within a repository and based upon the request, for previously-stored ancillary information associated with the user interface element; identifying, based upon no previously-stored ancillary information existing for the user interface element, a best match of other ancillary information; returning, to the user, the other ancillary information, wherein the request includes contextual information associated with the user interface element; wherein the ancillary information for the user interface element is received from an entity independent from a developer of the computer application; and wherein the other ancillary information includes help information from a prior version of the application.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ancillary information for the user interface element is received from a developer of the computer application.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the searching is performed by a web service that is remote from the application.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the searching is performed local to the application.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying identifies a ranked set of matches, and the ranked set of matches are returned to the user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is for help information associated with the user interface element.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the other ancillary information includes help information for a functionally-related user interface element.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual information includes one or more of an application name, a version identifier, a type of the user interface element, a label of the user interface element, and a current content or value of the user interface element.

9. A computer hardware system, comprising a hardware processor programmed to initiate the following executable operations: receiving, from a user of a user interface element in a computer application, a request for ancillary information associated with the user interface element; searching, within a repository and based upon the request, for previously-stored ancillary information associated with the user interface element; identifying, based upon no previously-stored ancillary information existing for the user interface element, a best match of other ancillary information; returning, to the user, the other ancillary information, wherein the request includes contextual information associated with the user interface element; wherein the ancillary information for the user interface element is received from an entity independent from a developer of the computer application; and wherein the other ancillary information includes help information from a prior version of the application.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the ancillary information for the user interface element is received from a developer of the computer application.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the searching is performed by a web service that is remote from the application.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the searching is performed local to the application.

13. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code stored therein, the program code, which when executed by a computer hardware system, causes the computer hardware system to perform: receiving, from a user of a user interface element in a computer application, a request for ancillary information associated with the user interface element; searching, within a repository and based upon the request, for previously-stored ancillary information associated with the user interface element; identifying, based upon no previously-stored ancillary information existing for the user interface element, a best match of other ancillary information; and returning, to the user, the other ancillary information, wherein the request includes contextual information associated with the user interface element; wherein the ancillary information for the user interface element is received from a developer of the computer application and wherein the other ancillary information includes help information from a prior version of the application.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the ancillary information for the user interface element is received from an entity independent from a developer of the computer application.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the searching is performed by a web service that is remote from the application.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the searching is performed local to the application.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Clark David J
• Chase Lee M
• Farmer Mark A
• Gregory Mark
• Hancock Ian D
• Lilly Duncan J
• Moore Simon E

Classifications

• H04M1/72569

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06F3/0484 Primary

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• G06F9/4443

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F9/44505 Primary

  Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files · CPC title

• H04M1/72583

  Electricity · mapped topic