Method for constructing intelligent user assistance facility

Abstract

A method for building intelligent user assistance devices. In a computer having a processor and memory, and further comprising an output unit to provide a user interface for a user to interact with a program, a method of providing a user with a user assistance tool program for use with a program executed in the computer, comprising the steps of, during execution of the program, performing a probability assessment of the current user interaction with the interface to generate a numerical probability distribution for a plurality of different available help topics, thereby generating an independent probability measure for each of said help topics , the interaction indicates the user's intention to perform a specific task through the program, such that each of several independent probability measures is defined to indicate whether, given an action, the user would need relevant information from these topics in order to complete the task the probability of a specific message where the interaction has both linguistic and non-linguistic components; select a specific help topic that is most relevant to the user interaction according to probability measures over multiple distributions; and present the user via the output component Provides scheduled help messages related to a help topic.

Description

[0001] The present invention is a divisional application of the No. 97196520.X invention patent application with the filing date of July 2, 1997, entitled "Method for Constructing Intelligent User Auxiliary Equipment". technical field [0002] The present invention relates to expert systems in data processing. More specifically, the present invention relates to an automaton reasoning system and method for assisting software users and optimizing the functionality of computer systems and software by inferring users' needs and preferences in operating software systems or applications. Background technique [0003] While significant advances in graphical user interfaces have made various software applications easier and more productive for personal computer users, more and more complex features need to be included in order to be more convenient to use. Faced with a complex software application for the first time, a new user may be overwhelmed by the large number of complex funct...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0009] However, none of these previous studies has utilized sophisticated methods to reason about a user's need for help under uncertainty by considering multiple pieces of evidence, including the user's background information and the user's activities autonomously monitored by the program. Provide meaningful and relevant help to users

These systems also do not allow for monitoring the user's interaction with the software program, and thus cannot combine the analysis of the words in the free-text query with the traditional analysis of user actions and program context when the user requests help directly with the free-text query be considered comprehensively

Images