App Troubleshooting via Event-Triggered UI Screenshots
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional troubleshooting systems generate large amounts of cumbersome data, making it difficult and time-consuming for troubleshooters to monitor application usage and identify issues, as they often record excessive information that strains storage resources and is hard to interpret.
Innovation Solution
A method that records relevant screenshots of a User Interface (UI) during app usage, along with metadata, and stores them in a single image file with headers and highlighting features, allowing for efficient troubleshooting by minimizing the number of screenshots and compressing data, enabling easy review of user actions and UI changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If conventional troubleshooting systems record detailed feedback data, then the completeness of troubleshooting information is improved, but the storage resource consumption increases and data analysis complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential troubleshooting information (screenshots and key user actions) from the complete data stream, discarding redundant data such as detailed timing information and non-critical system states. This selective extraction maintains the completeness of diagnostically relevant information while dramatically reducing storage requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The troubleshooting record is segmented into discrete, meaningful units: individual screenshots are captured at specific trigger points, and user actions are recorded as distinct events. This segmentation allows the system to store only relevant discrete moments rather than continuous data streams, reducing overall storage consumption while preserving essential troubleshooting information.
2Loss of information
If conventional troubleshooting systems record detailed feedback data, then the completeness of troubleshooting information is improved, but the time required to analyze the data increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary organization of troubleshooting data by automatically capturing screenshots at predefined trigger points and structuring user actions in chronological order. This preliminary structuring eliminates the need for manual data sorting and filtering during analysis, allowing troubleshooters to immediately review organized visual evidence without spending time processing raw data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates simplified visual copies (screenshots) of the application interface at critical moments, replacing the need to analyze complex raw data structures. These visual copies provide immediate intuitive understanding of the application state, dramatically reducing the time required to comprehend and analyze troubleshooting information while preserving all diagnostically relevant details.
3Quantity of substance
If the number of screenshots is reduced, then the storage resource consumption is reduced, but the ability to capture relevant user actions may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of capturing screenshots continuously or at fixed time intervals, the system employs event-triggered periodic capture, taking screenshots only when specific user actions occur (such as button clicks, form submissions, or navigation events). This approach ensures that every captured screenshot is relevant to a specific user action, maintaining complete action coverage while minimizing the total number of screenshots stored.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different capture qualities and frequencies to different regions of the application workflow. High-detail screenshots are captured at critical decision points and error states, while less critical areas use lower resolution or are omitted entirely. This localized quality adjustment ensures that storage resources are concentrated on capturing the most diagnostically valuable user actions while reducing overall storage consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for troubleshooting an app are provided. In one implementation, a method includes detecting a plurality of user input actions performed during app use. The method includes capturing a sequence of screenshots representing images displayed by a User Interface (UI) during the use of the app. Each screenshot represents an image displayed by the UI at a specific point in time ranging from before a relevant user input action is performed to after the relevant user input action is performed. Also, the method includes creating a header associated with each screenshot. Each header includes information associated with a respective user input action and/or information associated with a change in the image displayed by the UI during use of the app in response to a respective user input action being performed. Then, the method includes storing the sequence of screenshots and headers vertically joined in a single image file.