A/B Testing Installed GUI Variable Modules

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for developing new graphical user interfaces rely on subjective customer interviews, which can be inefficient and lead to incorrect design decisions due to incomplete user feedback, potentially degrading the product or obscuring improvements in some areas while reducing capabilities in others.

Innovation Solution

A/B testing is employed, where different versions of a user-visible feature are deployed to subsets of users, with performance data collected and analyzed statistically to determine the effectiveness of each implementation, allowing for incremental and data-driven improvements.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If customer interviews are used to guide application development, then user feedback can be obtained, but the feedback may be incomplete or incorrect leading to wrong design decisions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompleteness of user feedbackVSAvoidaccuracy of design decisions

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements automated feedback collection by monitoring actual user interactions with the GUI through event logging and tracking. Instead of relying on subjective user interviews, the system objectively records user actions, preferences, and usage patterns, providing accurate feedback data that directly informs design decisions without human interpretation errors.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the manual interview process with an automated computer-based monitoring system. The mechanical system of interviewing users is substituted with electronic tracking of user interactions, where software automatically collects and analyzes usage data, eliminating the need for human interviewers and reducing bias in feedback collection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Productivity

If bulk rollout of interface changes is performed, then implementation efficiency is improved, but the ability to detect negative impacts is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveimplementation efficiencyVSAvoiddetection of negative impacts

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the user base into different groups that can receive different versions of the GUI interface. This allows the system to roll out changes to specific segments while maintaining control groups, enabling comparison of outcomes and detection of negative impacts without requiring a complete rollback of the bulk rollout.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements continuous feedback collection during and after bulk rollouts by monitoring user interactions with the new interface versions. The automated tracking system detects performance metrics, error rates, and usage patterns that indicate whether the bulk rollout is having positive or negative effects, allowing for timely intervention if problems arise.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Speed

If subjective design process is used, then development speed is maintained, but measurement precision of user needs is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedevelopment speedVSAvoidprecision of user needs assessment

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces subjective human judgment in the design process with objective computer-based measurement of user interactions. The system automatically tracks and quantifies user preferences, click patterns, and usage behaviors, providing precise measurements that eliminate subjective interpretation while maintaining rapid development cycles through automated analysis.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent enables the system to automatically collect, analyze, and interpret user interaction data without requiring manual intervention for each design decision. The computer system serves itself by gathering precise measurement data from user behavior and automatically translating this into design insights, maintaining speed while improving measurement precision.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS9201770B1A/B testing of installed graphical user interfaces

Publication Date: 2015.12.01 EMC IP HLDG CO LLC

AI summary

In a computer a graphical user interface (GUI) portion of an application program is instantiated as a core module and variable modules. One of a set of distinct versions of a variable module is selected and for interoperating with the core module, where the versions differ by respective implementations of a user-visible feature. Usage of the GUI involving the user-visible feature is monitored, recorded and reported, including collection of performance information for operations potentially affected by the use of the selected version rather than another version of the variable module. The performance information is transmitted to an evaluation system that collects performance information from a sample population of systems using all the distinct versions of the variable module, and applies statistical analysis to the performance information to yield statistical performance measures for the different implementations, usable to decide whether wider-scale official deployment of a new implementation is desirable.