U.S. patent application number 11/213335 was filed with the patent office on 2006-05-11 for usage based strength between related help topics and context based mapping thereof in a help information retrieval system.
This patent application is currently assigned to RightNow Technologies, Inc.. Invention is credited to Michael A. Myer, Douglas K. Warner.
Application Number | 20060101077 11/213335 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 24193945 |
Filed Date | 2006-05-11 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060101077 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Warner; Douglas K. ; et
al. |
May 11, 2006 |
Usage based strength between related help topics and context based
mapping thereof in a help information retrieval system
Abstract
An information retrieval system allows a user to navigate
through a plurality of informational items for a desired
informational item, and upon selection of an information item,
presents other informational items related to the selected
informational item. The information retrieval system in accordance
with principles of the present invention maintains a database that
defines a relational association between a plurality of
informational items in the system. The relational association is
based on historical navigational behavior of users in the
information retrieval system, and includes a relationship type,
which is based on the characteristics similarities between the
informational items, and relationship strength, which is based on
the historical frequency of any related informational items being
selected by a user within the same information retrieval session.
When a navigation from one informational item to anther information
item is detected, the relationship type and the relationship
strength of the two informational items are determined and stored
in the database. During a subsequent selection of an informational
item, any related informational items related to the selected
informational item are sorted based on the respective relationship
types and relationship strengths, and are provided in a sorted list
from which the user can select.
Inventors: |
Warner; Douglas K.;
(Bozeman, MT) ; Myer; Michael A.; (Bozeman,
MT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP;INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT
50 SOUTH SIXTH STREET
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
55402-1498
US
|
Assignee: |
RightNow Technologies, Inc.
|
Family ID: |
24193945 |
Appl. No.: |
11/213335 |
Filed: |
August 26, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09549667 |
Apr 14, 2000 |
6985893 |
|
|
11213335 |
Aug 26, 2005 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 ;
707/999.107; 707/E17.109 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 9/453 20180201;
Y10S 707/99943 20130101; Y10S 707/99932 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/104.1 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/00 20060101
G06F017/00 |
Claims
1. A method of providing a context sensitive mapping of a plurality
of help informational items in an information system, comprising:
providing a database having one or more record entries, said one or
more record entries defining relationships between originating
locations which help requests are originated and corresponding ones
of said plurality of help informational items, and said one or more
record entries each including an associated relationship strength
value based on historical frequency of selection of respective said
corresponding ones of said plurality of help informational items
during a help information retrieval session initiated from said
originating locations; upon detection of a user initiation of a
help information retrieval session from an originating location,
determining whether one or more matching record entries exist in
said database for said originating location; and providing, if said
one or more matching record entries exist, an access to one or more
associated help informational items corresponding to said
originating location according to said one or more record
entries.
2-33. (canceled)
Description
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application is related to an application for
U.S. Letter Pat. No., entitled "Usage Based Strength Between
Related Information in an Information Retrieval System" by the
present inventors, assigned to the assignee of the present
application, having an attorney docket No. 5482, and filed
concurrently on even date herewith.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention generally relates to information
search and retrieval systems. More particularly the present
invention relates to providing related informational items during
an information retrieval session to enhance the performance and
efficiency of an information retrieval system.
BACKGROUND ART
[0003] A database is useful only if a desired item can be
efficiently found and retrieved therefrom. To locate and retrieve a
desired information item in an information database, a search of
the database, e.g., based on a keyword or a text string, may be
required. The search typically involves finding entries matching
the keyword (or string) in an index created from parsing the
information items into searchable words and the location in which
the word appears in the database. For example, the Internet, or the
world wide web (WWW) may be considered as a very large database of
information items, in the form of web pages, distributed over a
very wide network. Currently available search engines, e.g., the
YAHOO.TM. EXCITE.TM., and the like, maintain an index of the entire
content of the WWW parsed into searchable words and corresponding
locations, e.g., the Uniform Resource Locators (URL).
[0004] However, as the size of a database becomes very large (e.g.,
the number of web pages in the WWW is currently in the hundreds of
millions, and growing fast), a user may have to navigate through,
i.e., select and review, a significant number of informational
items before arriving at the one desired informational item. The
navigation through the ever increasing number of informational item
to find the one desired informational item is often proved
difficult, and requires a considerable investment of time, effort,
and sometimes even good fortune, on the part of the user.
[0005] Unfortunately, in a conventional information retrieval
system, even after finding the sought after information once, to
find the same information again, unless the user remembers the
location of the information, the user may have to follow the same
navigational trail, again spending the required time and effort.
Moreover, a subsequent user looking for the same information would
have to duplicate the time and effort, i.e., must reinvent the
wheel, in order to find the information, and often ends an
information retrieval session in frustration without finding the
desired information. This duplicated effort is wasteful and
inconvenient, and thus diminishes the usefulness of the
database.
[0006] Moreover, in a conventional help information retrieval
system, the help information items are fixedly mapped, requiring a
user to always follow the same help menu path to arrive at a
particular help item of interest. Even if the path is ultimately
proven to be inefficient, the inefficient path nevertheless must
always be followed in order to retrieve that particular help item.
The efficiency of a particular path to be taken may depend on the
context in which the help item is sought. Because the fixed mapping
cannot account for the various contexts, it is inefficient, and
thus diminishes the usefulness of the help information retrieval
system.
[0007] Thus, what is needed is an efficient system for and method
of a convenient and economical retrieval of the one desired
informational item in an informational retrieval system that allows
leveraging of the time and effort invested during prior information
retrieval sessions.
[0008] What is also needed is an efficient system and method for a
dynamic and context sensitive mapping of help items in a help
information retrieval system.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
[0009] In accordance with the principles of the present invention,
a method of, and an apparatus for, providing related informational
items having a usage based relationship strength in an information
retrieval system comprises, the steps of, and the means for,
respectively, providing a database having one or more record
entries, the one or more record entries defining relationships
between originating locations from which help requests are
originated and corresponding ones of the plurality of help
informational items, and the one or more record entries each
including an associated relationship strength value based on
historical frequency of selection of the respective corresponding
ones of the plurality of help informational items during a help
information retrieval session initiated from the originating
locations, upon detection of a user initiation of a help
information retrieval session from an originating location,
determining whether one or more matching record entries exist in
the database for the originating location, and providing, if the
one or more matching record entries exist, an access to one or more
associated help informational items corresponding to the
originating location according to the one or more record
entries.
[0010] In addition, in accordance with the principles of the
present invention, an information retrieval system, comprises a
plurality of help informational items, and a database having one or
more record entries, the one or more record entries defining
relationships between locations from which help requests originated
and corresponding ones of the plurality of help informational
items, and the one or more record entries each including an
associated relationship strength value based on historical
frequency of selection of respective the corresponding ones of the
plurality of help informational items during a help information
retrieval session initiated from the originating locations.
[0011] Also, in accordance with the principles of the present
invention, a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon
computer program for implementing a method of providing a context
sensitive mapping of a plurality of help informational items in an
information retrieval system, the computer program comprises a set
of instructions for providing a database having one or more record
entries, the one or more record entries defining relationships
between originating locations from which help requests are
originated and corresponding ones of the plurality of help
informational items, and the one or more record entries each
including an associated relationship strength value based on
historical frequency of selection of respective the corresponding
ones of the plurality of help informational items during a help
information retrieval session initiated from the originating
locations; upon detection of a user initiation of a help
information retrieval session from an originating location,
determining whether one or more matching record entries exist in
the database for the originating location, and providing, if the
one or more matching record entries exist, an access to one or more
associated help informational items corresponding to the
originating location according to the one or more record
entries.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0012] Features and advantages of the present invention will become
apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description
with reference to the drawings, in which:
[0013] FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram of the information
retrieval system in accordance with the principles of the present
invention;
[0014] FIG. 2 is an exemplary table showing the relevant portions
of the relationship database shown in FIG. 1;
[0015] FIG. 2A is an exemplary table showing one possible example
of the contents of the table shown in FIG. 2;
[0016] FIG. 2B is an exemplary table showing a change in the
contents of the table shown in FIG. 2A as a result of a user
action;
[0017] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of the user interface
screen of the information retrieval system in accordance with the
principles of the present invention;
[0018] FIG. 4A is a flow diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of
the related relationship database update method in accordance with
the principles of the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 4B is a flow diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of
the related information provision method in accordance with the
principles of the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 5 is an exemplary table showing the relevant portions
of the relationship database shown in FIG. 1, as modified to
include the help relationship type for the help information
retrieval system in accordance with the principles of the present
invention;
[0021] FIG. 5A is an exemplary table showing another possible
embodiment of the relationship database of the help information
retrieval system in accordance with the principles of the present
invention;
[0022] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary embodiment of the user interface
screen of the help information retrieval system in accordance with
the principles of the present invention;
[0023] FIG. 7A is a flow diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of
the related help information database update method in accordance
with the principles of the present invention; and
[0024] FIG. 7B is a flow diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of
the related help information provision method in accordance with
the principles of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0025] For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of
the present invention are described by referring mainly to an
exemplar embodiment, particularly, with references to the Internet
and the world wide web (WWW) as the exemplary databases of
informational items. However, one of ordinary skill in the art
would readily recognize that the same principles are equally
applicable to, and can be implemented in, other informational
databases, and that any such variation would be within such
modifications that do not depart from the true spirit and scope of
the present invention.
[0026] An information retrieval system in accordance with the
principles of the present invention allows a user to navigate
through a plurality of informational items for a desired
informational item, and upon selection of an information item,
presents other informational items related to the selected
informational item. The information retrieval system in accordance
with the principles of the present invention maintains a database
that defines a relational association between a plurality of
informational items in the system.
[0027] The relational association is based on historical
navigational behavior of users of the information retrieval system,
and includes a relationship type, which is based on the
characteristic similarities between the informational items, and
relationship strength, which is based on the historical frequency
of any related informational items being selected by a user within
the same information retrieval session.
[0028] When a navigation from one informational item to another
information item is detected, the relationship type and the
relationship strength of the two informational items are determined
and stored in a database. During a subsequent selection of an
informational item, any informational items related to the selected
informational item may be presented to the user, sorted based on
the respective relationship types and relationship strengths, and
may be provided in a sorted list from which the user can
select.
[0029] In an aspect of the present invention, the inventive
informational retrieval system is utilized in a help information
retrieval system to provide a dynamic context sensitive mapping of
help informational items.
[0030] In particular, FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of
the information retrieval system 100 in accordance with the
principles of the present invention, which may comprise, in
relevant part, inter alia, an information requester 101, a
navigation interface/server 106, a search engine 102 and an
information server 104. The information retrieval system 100 may be
any system in which a plurality of informational items are
available to be searched and retrieved. For example, the entire
information retrieval system 100 may be housed within a single
computer system, where the information server 104 may comprise a
database containing a plurality of informational items stored in a
mass storage device, e.g., a hard disk or the like, and where the
information requester 101 may be a user interface through which a
user may initiate a search and retrieval session with the search
engine 102, which in turn may be an application program running on
the computer. In this example, the communication interfaces 105 and
108 may be, e.g., bus(s) within the computer system.
[0031] Alternately, the information retrieval system 100 may even
comprise a single computer program, in which each of the
information server 104, information requester 101 and the search
engine 102 may comprise a sub-component of the single computer
program. In this case, the communications interfaces 105 and 108
may themselves be computer routines acting as, e.g., program
interfaces.
[0032] In a yet another alternative embodiment, the information
retrieval system 100 may comprise a plurality of computers
connected via a computer network. For example, the communication
interfaces 105 and 108 may be a wide area network (WAN), e.g., the
Internet, the world wide web (WWW), Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN), or the like, through which each of the information
requester 101, the navigation interface 106, the search engine 102
and the information server 104 communicate. The information
requester 101 may be, e.g., a personal computer connected to the
Internet, e.g., via a modem or the like. The information server 104
may comprise a plurality of computers, e.g., web servers,
distributed over the WAN 105, 108, e.g., the Internet. The search
engine 102 may comprise any currently available and known search
engines, e.g., the YAHOO.TM.. EXCITE.TM., and the like, and may
maintain an index 103 of the entire content of the WWW parsed into
searchable words and corresponding locations. An example of a known
search engine and the associated index may be found from, e.g.,
U.S. Pat. No. 602,409 issued Feb. 1, 2000 to Michael Burrows, the
entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
[0033] Significantly, the information retrieval system 100 may
further comprise a navigational interface 106 having a relationship
database 107. The navigational interface 106 provides an interface
between the information requester 101 and the rest of the
information retrieval system 100, and may comprise a server, e.g.,
one or more computers, allowing the information requester 101 to
establish an information retrieval session, and to navigate through
the various informational items in the information retrieval system
100. A navigation refers herein to generally the process of
sequentially selecting and viewing one or more informational
items.
[0034] Alternatively, the navigational interface 106 and/or the
relationship database 107 may be implemented as a part of the user
interface, e.g., a web browser, of the information requester 101,
or even as a part of the search engine 102.
[0035] FIG. 2 shows an exemplar table illustrating the relevant
portions 200 of the relationship database 107. The relationship
database 107 in accordance with one aspect of the present invention
comprises, inter alia, an information item field 201 that uniquely
identifies information items, INFO#1 to INFO#N, which may
preferably be the location pointers, e.g., the URL in the case of
WWW pages, for the actual informational items, a related
informational item field 202, which contains one or more
informational items, e.g., INFO#A to INFO#Z, that are related to
the informational item in the informational item field 201.
[0036] The relationship database 107 may further comprise a
relationship type field 203, which defines the similarities between
the respective characteristics of the informational items that are
related, and a relationship strength field 204, which indicates the
strength of the relationships between a pair of informational items
based on the historical frequency of the pair being selected by a
user during a single information retrieval session. In a preferred
embodiment of the present invention, the relationship strength 204
comprises a value indicator represented as an integer, e.g., 2, 4,
etc.
[0037] According to the principles of the present invention, a
related informational item record in the table 200 is created when
at least two informational items are selected by a user during an
information retrieval session. For example, during an information
retrieval session, the user has navigated through informational
items, INFO ITEM 1, INFO ITEM A and INFO ITEM B, a relational
record for each of the pairs, INFO ITEM 1/INFO ITEM A, INFO ITEM
1/INFO ITEM B and INFO ITEM A/INFO ITEM B, may be created if the
respective records do not already exist in the database 107.
Alternately, an embodiment of the present invention may create
records only for information pairs which are selected
consecutively, i.e., only for the pairs, INFO ITEM 1/INFO ITEM A
and INFO ITEM 1/INFO ITEM B, in the proceeding example. A yet
another alternative embodiment of the present invention may create
records for any pair of informational items which are viewed during
the information retrieval session. For example, a record may be
created between the first and last informational items to indicate
a relationship from the start of the session to the finish of the
session.
[0038] The relationship type, by way of example only, may be, in an
information retrieval system comprising informational items
regarding a book collection of a library, a common author, a common
publisher and common subject, or the like, shared by the related
pair of informational items.
[0039] According to a preferred embodiment of the present
invention, a "general" relationship type is provided, and whenever
a pair of informational items are selected during an information
retrieval session, a record for the general relationship type is
always created in addition to the possible record with respect to
the above described common trait relationship type.
[0040] The relationship strength may initially be assigned a value
of, e.g., 1, the first time the record is created, and adjusted
based on the subsequent frequency of the pair being selected
together in an information retrieval session.
[0041] FIG. 2A shows an example of the contents of the table shown
in FIG. 2. In this example, the informational item "Rose" has a
number of informational items related thereto, i.e., the
informational items, "Fire Truck", "Daisy" and "Shakespeare", which
share some common traits. For example, the informational item
"Rose" and the related informational item "Fire Truck" are both red
in color. The example also shows that the relationship strength of
the informational item "Rose" and the related informational item
"Fire Truck" sharing the same color red has a current relationship
strength value of 4.
[0042] In operation, when a user selects an informational item,
e.g., the informational item "Rose" during an information retrieval
session, the navigation interface 106 displays a list of
informational items that are related to the selected informational
item "Rose", an exemplar display of which is shown in FIG. 3.
[0043] As shown in FIG. 3, the user is provided with a selection
display 304 including a related information portion 308, in which
the related informational item records from the table shown in FIG.
2 to FIG. 2B are listed. In a preferred embodiment, the related
informational items are grouped by the relationship types as shown
by the reference numerals 309, 312, 315, 318 and 321, and are
sorted and listed, within each of the groups, in descending order
of the respective relationship strengths as shown by the reference
numeral 310. Preferably, in each of the groupings, 309, 312, 315,
318 and 321, in order to provide an uncluttered and ergonomic
display, only a few informational items having higher relationship
strengths are shown along with an option to view more selections by
clicking on one of the "MORE" links, 311, 314, 317, 320 and
323.
[0044] Optionally, the selection display 304 allows the user to
choose to view the originally selected informational item, "Rose"
without selecting any of the related informational items by
clicking on the link 305.
[0045] When the user selects the informational item "Daisy" by
clicking on the "Daisy" link 310 from the "general" relationship
type group 309, the relationship strength for the general
relationship type relationship record for the related informational
items pair ROSE/DAISY is increased by a predetermined amount, e.g.,
from 18 to 19, as indicated by reference numerals 205 and 206 in
FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, respectively.
[0046] The inventive process of providing related informational
items will now be described with references to FIGS. 4A and 4B. In
particular, as shown in FIG. 4A, in step 401, the present inventive
navigational interface 106 detects a navigation from one
informational item to at least one other informational item, e.g.,
from the informational item "Rose" to the informational item
"Daisy", then to the informational item "Fire Truck".
[0047] In step 402, a determination is made whether relationship
records for any of the ROSE/DAISY ROSE/FIRE TRUCK and the
DAISY/FIRE TRUCK pairs already exist in the database 107. If any of
the informational items do not already have a relationship record
in the database, in step 403, a relationship type is determined for
the missing pair. In an embodiment of the present invention, a
record for each informational items pair with the "general"
relationship type is created. In addition, a new record for each
identified common trait of each pair is created. It is possible
that a pair may have no common trait (e.g., the DAISY/FIRE TRUCK
pair), in which case only the general relationship type record is
created. It may also be possible that a pair may share more than
one common trait (e.g., the ROSE/DAISY pair may share traits,
"flower" and "scent").
[0048] In step 404, for each record newly created, an initial value
of the respective relationship strength is assigned, e.g., an
initial value of 1. For example, if none of the pairs has an
existing relationship record, then after the operations of steps
403 and 404, the resulting new records may be as shown in Table I
below: TABLE-US-00001 TABLE I Informational Related Relationship
Relationship Item Informational Item Type Strength Rose Fire truck
General 1 Rose Fire truck Red 1 Rose Daisy General 1 Rose Daisy
Flower 1 Rose Daisy Scent 1 Daisy Rose General 1 Daisy Rose Flower
1 Daisy Rose Scent 1 Fire Truck Rose General 1 Fire Truck Rose Red
1 Daisy Fire Truck General 1 Fire Truck Daisy General 1
[0049] If, on the other hand, in step 402, a determination is made
that at least one of the informational item pairs has an existing
record in the database 107, then, in step 405, the relationship
strength for the existing record(s) is increased by a predetermined
amount, e.g., by 1. According to an embodiment of the present
invention, if a record exists in the database, the related
information would have been displayed (e.g., as shown in FIG. 3),
and the user selects therefrom. If the user had selected the
related informational item from a group other than the general
relationship type group, the relationship strength record
corresponding to that selected relationship type would also be
increased as well as for the record corresponding to the general
relationship type.
[0050] In step 406, the database 107 is updated to reflect the
newly created records and/or the relationship strength(s)
adjustment(s). In one embodiment of the present invention, the
database 107 is updated in real time, i.e., whenever a new record
is created or a relationship strength adjustment is made. In an
alternative embodiment, the database may be updated off-line by
collecting the navigational history of users of the information
retrieval system in one or more history log file. The history log
file may be examined periodically, i.e., daily, monthly, etc., to
detect any navigation from an informational item to another
informational item to generate new relationship records and/or to
make relationship strength adjustments therefrom.
[0051] FIG. 4B shows an exemplary embodiment of the inventive
related information provision process, in which when a user
selection of an informational item is detected in step 407, the
navigational interface 106 performs, in step 408, a look-up
operation of the database 107 to determine whether any relationship
record exists for the selected informational item. If a
determination is made that there is a match, i.e., the selected
informational item has an existing relationship record in the
relationship database 107, the matching related informational items
are grouped by the relationship types, sorted based on the
relationship strengths, and displayed as shown, e.g., in FIG.
3.
[0052] If, on the other hand, no relationship record exists for the
selected informational item, then the process ends in step 411
without displaying any related informational item.
[0053] As can be appreciated, the inventive relevant informational
item provisioning system described above, provides an efficient and
economical navigational tool, by which a user of an information
retrieval system may find a desired informational item with less
effort and time, by suggesting related informational items which
are historically proved useful, and by allowing the user to reap
the benefits of the efforts made during a prior information
retrieval session and/or by prior users.
[0054] In another aspect of the present invention, the relationship
database 107 may include a relationship type "HELP" to allow a
dynamic context sensitive mapping of help informational items in a
help information retrieval system. In contrast to a conventional
help information retrieval system, which maintains a fixed mapping
of the help informational items (i.e., the selection choices for
help items are always the same without regard to the context within
which a user seeks help), the help information retrieval system in
accordance with the present invention provides a context sensitive
mapping, in which help items from which a user chooses are varied
depending on the informational item being viewed by the user at the
time of the invocation of help. Moreover, the mapping of the help
items according to the present invention is dynamically updated
based on the usage of the system to further enhance the context
sensitive nature thereof.
[0055] In particular, FIG. 5 shows an exemplar table illustrating
the relevant portions 500 of the relationship database 107 as
adapted for implementation of the help information retrieval system
in accordance with the principles of the present invention. As
shown in FIG. 5, the table 200 shown in FIG. 2 is modified to
include relationship records 505 each having a relationship type
"HELP". The help relationship records 505 in accordance with one
aspect of the present invention may comprise, inter alia, an
information item field 501 containing the location identifiers,
ITEM LOC 1 to ITEM LOC N, e.g., the URL in the case of WWW pages,
for the originating informational item, a related informational
item field 502, which contains one or more informational item
identifiers, e.g., INFO ITEM D to INFO ITEM S, of help items that
are relevant to the informational item corresponding to the
location identifier in the informational item field 501.
[0056] Each of the help relationship records 505 may further
comprise a relationship type field 203, which is always "HELP"
type, and a relationship strength field 504, which indicates the
strength of the relationships between the location, e.g., the ITEM
LOC 1, and the help item, e.g., the INFO ITEM D, pair based on the
historical frequency of the help item being selected by a user who
seeks help while originating at that location. In an embodiment of
the present invention, the relationship strength 504 comprises a
value indicator represented as an integer. e.g., 2, 4, etc.
[0057] According to the principles of the present invention, a help
relationship record 505 in the table 500 is created when a help
item is selected by a user during a help information retrieval
session, which was initiated while viewing an informational
item.
[0058] For example, when a user invokes help session by, e.g.,
clicking on the "help" button (not shown), while currently viewing
an informational item located at ITEM LOC N during an information
retrieval session, and selects a help item INFO ITEM Q, another
help item INFO ITEM R, and subsequently the help item INFO ITEM S,
a help relationship record may be created for each of the pairs,
ITEM LOC N/INFO ITEM Q, ITEM LOC N/INFO ITEM R and ITEM LOC N/INFO
ITEM S if the records do not exist in the table 500 already.
[0059] The relationship strength may initially be assigned a value
of, e.g., 1, the first time a record is created, and adjusted based
on the subsequent frequency of the help item being selected in a
help session initiated while viewing the informational item.
[0060] In operation, when a user seeks help while viewing an
information item, e.g., located at ITEM LOC N, the inventive help
information retrieval system presents the user with a display 601
shown in FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 6, the user is provided with a
selection display 601 in which the relevant help items as
determined from the table shown in FIG. 5 are listed. In a
preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the help items are sorted and
listed in descending order of the respective relationship strengths
as shown by the reference numeral 602. Preferably, in order to
provide an uncluttered and ergonomic display, only a few help items
having higher relationship strengths are shown along with an option
to view more selections by clicking on the "MORE" link 603.
[0061] When user selects one of the listed help items, e.g., the
help item INFO ITEM R by clicking on the link "ITEM R", the
relationship strength of the help relationship record for the ITEM
LOC N/INFO ITEM R is increased by a predetermined amount, e.g., a
one (1).
[0062] The inventive process of providing context sensitive help
items will now be described with references to FIGS. 7A and 7B.
[0063] As shown in FIG. 7A, in step 701, the inventive help
information retrieval system detects a selection of a help item,
e.g., the help item INFO ITEM R, by a user during a help session,
which was initiated when the user was viewing an informational item
at a location, e.g., ITEM LOC N.
[0064] Upon the detection, in step 702, a determination is made
whether a help relationship record for the ITEM LOC N/INFO ITEM R
pair already exists in the table 500. If the help relationship
record does not already exist in the table, in step 703, a new help
relationship record is created, and an initial value of the
relationship strength therefor is assigned, e.g., the initial value
is set to a one (1).
[0065] If, on the other hand, in step 702, a determination is made
that the help relationship record already exists in the table,
then, in step 704, the relationship strength for the existing
record is increased by a predetermined amount, e.g., by 1.
[0066] In step 705, the table 500 is updated to reflect the newly
created record and/or the relationship strength adjustment. In one
embodiment of the present invention, the table 500 is updated in
real time, i.e., whenever a new record is created or a relationship
strength adjustment is made. In an alternative embodiment, the
database maybe updated off-line by collecting the help session
history of users of the information retrieval system in one or more
history log file. The history log file may be examined
periodically, i.e., daily, monthly, etc., to determine the
originating informational item(s) and any help item(s) selected to
generate new relationship records and/or to make relationship
strength adjustments therefrom.
[0067] FIG. 7B shows an exemplary embodiment of the inventive
related help information provision process, in which when a user
initiation of a help session is detected in step 706, the help
information retrieval system of the present invention performs, in
step 707, a look-up operation of the table 500 to determine whether
any help relationship records exist for the location corresponding
to the informational item from which the help session originated.
If a determination is made that one or more help relationship
record(s) already exist in the table 500, the matching help items
are sorted based on the relationship strengths, and displayed,
e.g., as shown in FIG. 6.
[0068] If, on the other hand, no help relationship record exists
for the originating informational item location in the table 500,
in step 710, a conventional help topic contents, as is well known,
is provided for the user to select a help item therefrom. When the
user selects a help item from the help topic contents, the
selection is detected as shown in step 701, and the location/info
item pair of the originating informational item and the selected
help item is processed through steps 702 to 705 to create and store
a new help relationship record in the table 500.
[0069] As can be appreciated, the inventive help information
retrieval system described above allows a mapping of help items,
which is sensitive to the context within which a user is seeking
help, i.e., by providing originating location specific selection
choices of help items. Moreover, the mapping is allowed to be
dynamically updated based on the usage behavior to provide more
relevant selection choices and thus a more efficient use of the
help information retrieval system.
[0070] While the invention has been described with reference to the
exemplary embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be
able to make various modifications to the described embodiments of
the invention without departing from the true spirit and scope of
the invention. The terms and descriptions used herein are set forth
by way of illustration only and are not meant as limitations. In
particular, although the method of the present invention has been
described by examples, the steps of the method may be performed in
a different order than illustrated or simultaneously. Those skilled
in the art will recognize that these and other variations are
possible within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in
the following claims and their equivalents.
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