Network-based help architecture

Details Network-based help architecture Network-based help architecture

1998-12-11

2001-05-22

Ho, Ruay Lian (Department: 2172)

Data processing: database and file management or data structures

Database design

Data structure types

C707S793000, C709S241000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06236989

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to improved information-retrieval methods and systems. In particular, the present invention relates to a data-processing system that hosts a software application and is linked to other data-processing systems by associated linking networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and system for providing user help information for a software application that resides on a data-processing system that may be accessed via links to other data processing systems. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for integrating help databases with knowledge bases utilizing a standardized data format such that dynamically updated help information can be efficiently accessed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Network Access to Information
The development of computerized information resources, such as the “Internet,” allows users of data-processing systems to link with other servers and networks, and thus retrieve vast amounts of electronic information heretofore unavailable in an electronic medium. Such electronic information is increasingly displacing more conventional means of information transmission, such as newspapers, magazines, and even television.
The term “Internet” is an abbreviation for “Internetwork,” and refers commonly to the collection of networks and gateways that utilize the TCP/IP suite of protocols, which are well-known in the art of computer networking. TCP/IP is an acronym for “Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol,” and is a software protocol developed by the Department of Defense for communication between computers. The Internet can be described as a system of geographically distributed computer networks interconnected by computers executing networking protocols that allow users to interact and share information over the networks. Because of such wide-spread information sharing, the Internet has thus far generally evolved into an “open” system for which developers can design software applications for performing specialized operations or services, essentially without restriction.
Electronic information transferred between data-processing networks is usually presented in hypertext, a metaphor for presenting information in a manner in which text, images, sounds, and actions become linked together in a complex nonsequential Web of associations that permit the user to “browse” or “navigate” through related topics, regardless of the presented order of the topics. These links are often established by both the author of a hypertext document and by the user, depending on the intent of the hypertext document. For example, traveling among links to the word “iron” in an article displayed within a graphical user interface in a dataprocessing system might lead the user to the periodic table of the chemical elements (i.e., linked by the word “iron”), or to a reference to the use of iron in weapons in Europe in the Dark Ages. The term “hypertext” was coined in the 1960s to describe documents, as presented by a computer, that express the nonlinear structure of ideas, as opposed to the linear format of books, film, and speech.
The term “hypermedia,” on the other hand, more recently introduced, is nearly synonymous with “hypertext” but focuses on the nontextual components of hypertext, such as animation, recorded sound, and video. Hypermedia is the integration of graphics, sound, video, or any combination thereof into a primarily associative system of information storage and retrieval. Hypermedia, as well as hypertext, especially in an interactive format where choices are controlled by the user, is structured around the idea of offering a working and learning environment that parallels human thinking— that is, an environment that allows the user to make associations between topics rather than move sequentially from one to the next, as in an alphabetic list. Hypermedia, as well as hypertext topics, are thus linked in a manner that allows the user to jump from one subject to other related subjects during a search for information. Hyper-link information is contained within hypermedia and hypertext documents, which allow a user to move back to “original” or referring network sites by the mere “click” (i.e., with a mouse or other pointing device) of the hyper-linked topic.
A typical networked system that utilizes hypertext and hypermedia conventions follows a client/server architecture. The “client” is a member of a class or group that uses the services of another class or group to which it is not related. Thus, in computing, a client is a process (i.e., roughly a program or task) that requests a service provided by another program. The client process utilizes the requested service without having to “know” any working details about the other program or the service itself. In a client/server architecture, particularly a networked system, a client is usually a computer that accesses shared network resources provided by another computer (i.e., a server).
A request by a user for news or other information can be sent by a client application program to a server. A server is typically a remote computer system accessible over the Internet or other communications medium. The server scans and searches for raw (e.g., unprocessed) information sources (e.g., newswire feeds or newsgroups). Based upon such requests by the user, the server presents filtered electronic information as server responses to the client process. The client process may be active in a first computer system, and the server process may be active in a second computer system, communicating with one another over a communications medium, thus providing distributed functionality and allowing multiple clients to take advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of the server.
Client and server communicate with one another utilizing the functionality provided by Hypertext-Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The World Wide Web (WWW) or, simply, the “Web,” includes those servers adhering to this standard (i.e., HTTP) which are accessible to clients via a computer or data-processing system network address such as a Universal Resource Locator (URL) . The network address can be referred to as a Universal Resource Locator address. For example, communication can be provided over a communications medium. In particular, the client and server may be coupled to one another via Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or TCP/IP connections for high-capacity communication. Active within the client is a first process, known as a “browser,” which establishes the connection with the server and presents information to the user. The server itself executes corresponding server software which presents information to the client in the form of HTTP responses. The HTTP responses correspond to “Web pages” constructed from a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) , or other server-generated data. Each Web page can also be referred to simply as a “page.”
The client and server typically display browsers and other Internet data for a user via a graphical user interface. A graphical user interface is a type of display format that enables a user to choose commands, start programs, and see lists of files and other options by pointing to pictorial representations (icons) and lists of menu items on the screen. Choices can be activated generally either with a keyboard or a mouse. Internet services are typically accessed by specifying a unique network address (i.e., URL). The URL address has two basic components, the protocol to be used and the object pathname. For example, the URL address, “http://www.uspto.gov” (i.e., home page for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office), specifies a hypertext-transfer protocol (“http”) and a pathname of the server (“www.uspto.gov”) . The server name is associated with a unique numeric value (TCP/IP address).
The evolution of personal computers over the last decade has accelerated the Web and Internet toward useful everyday applications. Nearly every computer sold over the last several years has or will, at

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