User interface

About: User interface is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 85402 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1728377 citations. The topic is also known as: UI & input method.

System and method for analyzing system user behavior

Abstract: A system and method for monitoring and analyzing user activity of an interactive system, providing insight and recommendations to improve the interactive system based on the user activity. The present invention analyzes user behavior in the context of the structure of the interactive system as experienced by the user, the analysis of business-critical user tasks, the automated generation of recommendations for improving the interactive system, reports on the interactive system's application logic and data, unique visualizations of user behavior through the use of graphical displays, and secure report viewing and creation. The present invention can be applied to number of interactive systems or a combination thereof.

Wireless, radio-frequency communications using a handheld computer

Abstract: A communications device provides a user with a sensory cue that informs the user of certain characteristics of a subsequent action that includes data communications. By informing the user of the data communication characteristics before the user initiates the data communication action, the invention appropriately sets user expectations regarding the data communication characteristics. For example, one embodiment of the invention is implemented in a portable communications device with a screen. For subsequent actions that include wireless communications, the portable communications device simultaneously displays a wireless link icon sensory cue next to a user interface graphic element. The user interface element is used to initiate the subsequent action. The user interface element can be an operating system object having an embedded link type icon. The wireless link icon informs the user that the subsequent action corresponding to the user interface element requires wireless communication and the expense and time associated therewith. A method, a system and an apparatus for indicating characteristics of a subsequent action to a user before the user begins the subsequent action are provided.

Client server animation system for managing interactive user interface characters

Abstract: A client server animation system provides services to enable clients to play animation and lip-synched speech output for an interactive user interface character. Through the programming interface of the server, clients can specify both speech and cursor device input that an instance of an interactive user interface character will respond to when the clients are active. Clients can also request playback of animation and lip-synched speech output through this interface. Services can be invoked from application programs as well as web scripts embedded in web pages downloaded from the Internet.

Method and system for managing data while sharing application programs

Abstract: A method and system for managing data (i.e., objects) that are shared by multiple instances of a shared application program. A shared application program is an application program that is executing simultaneously on multiple computers and that has a copy of data that is being shared by each instance of the application program. In particular, each computer maintains a copy of the shared data. When an instance of the application program modifies the shared data, the modifications are sent to the other computers. Each of these other computers stores the data in its copy of the shared data, and each instance of the application program updates its user interface to reflect the modifications to the shared data. Thus, the users of the shared application program can cooperatively modify and view the shared data. For example, multiple users can be executing a word processing program on their computer and sharing a common document. As one user changes the document, the word processing program updates its copy of the shared data. The changes are then transmitted to the other computers so that their copy of the shared data can be updated. In particular, an object management (OM) system is provided that enables shared application programs to manage their copy of the shared data. Each computer has a copy of the OM system. The OM system, under the direction of the shared application program, manages the adding, deleting, and modifying of the shared data. The OM system also controls the transmitting of modifications to the copy of the shared data to the other computers.

PAC, an Object Oriented Model for Dialog Design

Abstract: PAC is an implementation model that attempts to bridge the gap between the abstract sphere of theoretical models and the practical affairs of building user interfaces. It takes as a basis the vertical decomposition of human-computer interaction into semantic, syntactic and pragmatic layers as promoted by some theoretical models. However, PAC stresses the fact that these notions do not form strict monolithic layers but are distributed across related “chunks”, called interactive objects. For doing so, PAC recursively structures an interactive application in three parts: the Presentation, the Abstraction and the Control. The Presentation defines the the concrete syntax of the application whereas the Abstraction corresponds to the semantics. The Control maintains the mapping and the consistency between the abstract entities and their presentation to the user. The Presentation of an application is in turn decomposed into a set of interactive objects, entities specialized in man-machine communication. As for applications, an interactive object is organized according to the PAC model. PAC has been used for the construction of two interactive applications and is currently applied to the development of a User Interface Management System.