Data processing: artificial intelligence – Knowledge processing system – Knowledge representation and reasoning technique
Reissue Patent
1996-10-02
2001-10-30
Downs, Robert W. (Department: 2762)
Data processing: artificial intelligence
Knowledge processing system
Knowledge representation and reasoning technique
C706S011000, C345S215000
Reissue Patent
active
RE037431
ABSTRACT:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to help systems for computers; more specifically, it relates to help systems that aid a user of a computer by providing context sensitive help.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In order to operate a computer effectively, a user must master a number of commands and data formats. One usually accomplishes this by spending hours reading printed user documentation and/or by using trial and error techniques.
Computer-aided help system have been developed to provide on-line assistance to computer users. In response to a request by a user, those systems display help information on the display screen of the computer. Simple help systems always start with the same display, regardless of the circumstances, and the user must enter specific information to find help for his or her particular situation. More advanced help systems display context-sensitive help. Context-sensitive help systems determine what particular part of an application program the user is in. Then help information is displayed that is relevant to this user location.
While such context-sensitive help systems represent an advancement over simple help systems, they have numerous limitations. Such systems are usually tightly coupled to an application program; they must rely on the application program to keep track of and store the context. Further, since these systems are limited to displaying help information based upon program location, they will always return the same help information for a given location regardless of how the user got there. While such systems provide the convenience of on-line help, the help information they provide is nothing more than a user's manual correlated with a given program screen or function. As a result, these help systems tend to be of limited utility to the user who cannot specifically identify the problem or who has “lost his way.”
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention recognizes a need for an intelligent help system which processes information specific to the user's history, such as tasks he or she has successfully executed (and how many times) or has had previous help with, and information which defines a state of a machine and a state of a programmed application.
According to the invention, an intelligent help system for aiding the user of a computer program is provided by maintaining an historic queue and using artificial intelligence techniques to select help information based on user-directed events and the current state of the system. In particular, user-directed activities are monitored and stored in the historical queue inside a knowledge base. System states are also monitored and stored. The knowledge base is then used by an inference engine to isolate the specific kind of help that a user needs. Thus, the user is given assistance upon request which is appropriate to that user's level of understanding or experience and the current activities that he or she has executed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4156284 (1979-05-01), Engeler
patent: 4648044 (1987-03-01), Hardy et al.
patent: 4658370 (1987-04-01), Erman et al.
patent: 4860214 (1989-08-01), Matsuda et al.
patent: 4873661 (1989-10-01), Tsividis
patent: 4885757 (1989-12-01), Provence
patent: 4903226 (1990-02-01), Tsividis
patent: 4931926 (1990-06-01), Tanaka
patent: 4942367 (1990-07-01), Milkovic
patent: 4962342 (1990-10-01), Mead et al.
patent: 4964077 (1990-10-01), Eisen et al.
patent: 4988891 (1991-01-01), Mashiko
patent: 5008810 (1991-04-01), Kessel et al.
patent: 5021988 (1991-06-01), Mashiko
patent: 5023833 (1991-06-01), Baum et al.
patent: 5039870 (1991-08-01), Engeler
patent: 5167010 (1992-11-01), Elm et al.
patent: 5239617 (1993-08-01), Gardner et al.
patent: 5485544 (1996-01-01), Nonaka et al.
patent: 6398741 (1988-04-01), None
patent: 63124148 (1988-05-01), None
John M. Carroll and Jean McKendree, Interface Design Issues for Advice-Giving Expert Systems, 30 Comm. of the ACM 14-32, Jan. 1987.*
Imamiya et al., “Embedding Explanation Mechanism With User Interface,” SPIE vol. 635 Applications of Artificial Intelligence III pp. 650-657, Apple MacIntosh Prints (1986).
Parsaye et al., “Expert Systems For Experts,” pp. 66-67, 254-271 (1988).
Covington et al., “Prolog Programming In Depth,” pp. 50-55 (1988).
Erlandsen et al., “Intelligent Help Systems,” Information And Software Technology vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 115-121, Apr. 1987.
Frakes et al., “Using Expert System Components To Add Intelligent Help And Guidance To Software Tools,” Information And Software Technology vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 366-370, Sep. 1989.
Prager et al., “Reason: An Intelligent User Assistant For Interactive Environments,” IBM Systems Journal vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 141-164, Jan. 1990.
Helm, “Tandy Deskmate Intelligent Help Expert System,” 1989.
M. Stehouwer and J. Bruggen, “Performance Interpretation In An Intelligent Help System,” Proc. 6th Annual ESPRIT Conf. (Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1989), pp. 248-257.
J. Silber, “PAL: An Intelligent Help System,” Proc. 3rd Int'l Conf, on Indus. & Engin. Appl. of Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems (Jul. 1990), pp. 882-889.
Graf et al., “A Reconfigurable CMOS Neural Network”, from 1990 IEEE Intl. Solid-State Circuits Conf., Feb. 15, 1990, 144-145.*
Kub et al., “Programmable Analog Vector-Matrix Multipliers”, IEEE Jour. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 25(1), Feb. 1990, pp. 207-214.*
Rossetto et al., “Analog VLSI Synaptic Matrices as Building Blocks for Neural Networks”, IEEE Micro, Dec. 1989, pp. 56-63.*
Schwartz et al., “A Programmable Analog Neural Network Chip”, IEEE Jour. Solid State Circuits, vol. 24(3), Apr. 1989, pp. 688-697.*
Alspector et al., “Performance of a Stochastic Learning Microchip”, from Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems I, Morgan-Kaufmann, 1989, pp. 748-760.*
Faggin et al., “VLSI Implementation of Neural Networks”, from an Intro. to Neural and Electronic Networks, Academic Press, Inc., 1990, pp. 275-292.*
DeGloria, A., “The VLSI Technology and the Design of Neural Networks”, First Italian Workshop Parallel Architectures and Neural Networks, Apr. 1988, pp. 119-127.*
Mead et al., Analog VLSI Implementation of Neural Systems, Kluaer Academic Publishers, 1989, pp. 57-83.*
Salam et al., “A Feed Forward Neural Network for CMOS VLSI Implementation”, Midwest Symposium Circuits & Systems, 1990, 489-491.*
Walker et al., “A CMOS Neural Network for Pattern Association”, IEEE Micro, Oct. 1989, pp. 68-74.*
Siyilotti et al., “A Novel Associative Memory Implemented Using Collective Computation”, Conf. on Very Large Scale Integration, 1985, pp. 11-21.*
Graf et al., IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conf., 1990 “A Reconfigurable CMOS Neural Network”, pp. 144-145.
Lanier Charles D.
Villegas Leticia
Wolf Richard J.
AST Research Inc.
Downs Robert W.
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
Pender Michael
LandOfFree
Intelligent help system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Intelligent help system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Intelligent help system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2581076