Home

Enhanced Contextual User Assistance

1. The assistance manager and or the assistance file may be provided by an original equipment manufacturer of the camera 310 or it may be provided by a third party 0080 The assistance manager includes operability to receive a query related to the digital camera 310 through an interface of the plurality of interfaces 320 For example in an embodiment detecting a user touch to the button 344D may be received as an instruction to activate the assistance man ager such as the assistance manager at operation number 210 of FIG 3 Activation of the assistance manager transitions the user interfaces 320 to a first state A detected subsequent user touch to another user interface of the plurality of user inter faces 320 may be received by the assistance manager a query related to the digital camera 310 0081 Alternatively a detected subsequent user touch to another user interface of the plurality of user interfaces 320 may be received by the assistance manager as a selection corresponding to an aspect of the digital camera 310 The user touch may be detected by a user interface physically incor porated in the aspect of the digital camera 310 or proximate thereto 0082 In alternative embodiment the query may be received by detecting a signal responsive to a sound or voice received by the microphone 334 For example a detection and recognition of a signal responsive to a spoken help com mand to the microphone 334 may be received as an in
2. include the first user interface In an embodiment the first interface and the second interface may comprise a same physical or virtual element of the electronic device The first interface and the second interface may share a same physical or virtual element but be separately activated when the physi cal or virtual element is in different activate modes or states For example an interface having a physical structure and in a first state may function as the first interface and in a second state may function as the second interface In this example a single physical button interface may have a plurality of inter face states Continuing with these examples a physical button associated with an electronic device may have normal oper ating function related to the electronic device Upon activa tion of an assistance manager and entry into an assistance mode the same physical button transitions to a first state and functions as the first interface that receives a query such as at the query operation 220 Upon occurrence of an event such as receipt of the query at the query operation 220 or finding an assistance corresponding to the query at the search operation 230 the same physical button transitions to a second state In the second state the physical button functions as the second interface that provides assistance corresponding to the query such as at the provide operation 240 0068 In another example an interface such as a physical
3. memory interface such interface 150 0053 The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in FIG 2 provide stor age of computer readable instructions data structures pro gram modules and other data for the computer 100 In FIG 2 for example hard disk drive 141 is illustrated as storing an operating system 144 application programs 145 other pro gram modules 146 and program data 147 Note that these US 2013 0238991 Al components can either be the same as or different from the operating system 134 application programs 135 other pro gram modules 136 and program data 137 The operating system 144 application programs 145 other program mod ules 146 and program data 147 are given different numbers here to illustrate that at a minimum they are different copies A user may enter commands and information into the com puter 100 through input devices such as a microphone 163 keyboard 162 and pointing device 161 commonly referred to as a mouse trackball or touch pad Other input devices not shown may include a joystick game pad satellite dish and scanner These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 120 through a user input interface 160 that is coupled to the system bus but may be connected by other interface and bus structures such as a parallel port game port ora universal serial bus USB A monitor 191 or other type of display device is also conne
4. which may include detecting a spoken word 0110 At request operation 565 a selection corresponding to an assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device is received through a second user interface of the electronic device The first user interface and or the second user interfaces may generally include any of the configura tions previously described Several exemplary configurations are described in conjunction with the exemplary operation 550 that provides assistance The receiving a selection corre sponding to an assistance request through a second user inter face may generally be received in any manner including any manner previously described that receives a selection through a user interface In an alternative embodiment the selection may include a selection corresponding to a predetermined assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device For example predetermined assistance requests may include any request related to the electronic device such as a group of show me demonstrate and guide me In this alternative embodiment at request operation 565 a user selects at least one from among a group of predetermined assistance requests 0111 At context operation 570 a context of the electronic device is sensed The context operation 570 may be substan tially similar to the context operation 515 of the exemplary process 500 that provides an assistance described in conjunc tion
5. In addition to the display 32 the computing device 20 may include other peripheral output devices such as at least one speaker 38 0046 Other external input or output devices 39 such as a joystick game pad satellite dish scanner or the like may be connected to the processing unit 21 through a USB port 40 and USB port interface 41 to the system bus 23 Alternatively US 2013 0238991 Al the other external input and output devices 39 may be con nected by other interfaces such as a parallel port game port or other port The computing device 20 may further include car be capable of connecting to a flash card memory not shown through an appropriate connection port not shown The computing device 20 may further include or be capable of connecting with a network through a network port 42 and network interface 43 and through wireless port 46 and cor responding wireless interface 47 may be provided to facilitate communication with other peripheral devices including other computers printers and so on not shown It will be appreciated that the various components and connections shown are exemplary and other components and means of establishing communications links may be used 0047 The computing device 20 may be primarily designed to include a user interface having a character key based other user data input via the touch sensitive display 32 using a stylus not shown Moreover the user interface is not limited to an actual to
6. be implemented in any combination of hardware software and or firmware configured to effect the operation 550 that provides assistance depending upon the design choices of the system designer A further embodiment includes a computer readable media containing computer instructions which when run on a computing device cause the computing device to perform the operation 550 that pro vides assistance The computer readable media may include a computer storage media which may be carried by a com puter readable carrier suchas a floppy disk Alternatively the computer readable media may include a communications media 0115 The exemplary operation 550 that provides contex tual assistance may be implemented in any device or item where enhanced contextual user assistance may be advanta geously employed For example the exemplary operation 550 may be implemented in the system 300 described in conjunction with FIGS 6 and 9 0116 Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the art has progressed to the point where there is little distinction left between hardware and software implementa tions of aspects of systems the use of hardware or software is generally but not always in that in certain contexts the choice between hardware and software can become signifi cant a design choice representing cost vs efficiency tradeoffs Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are various vehicles by which processe
7. button may function as a first interface when operated in a first mode and function as a second interface when operated in a second mode In this example a single physical button may function as a first interface when pressed quickly once and as a second interface when pressed slowly once Continuing with this example the single physical button may function as a first interface when pressed once and as a second interface when pressed twice in quick succession 0069 In an embodiment the operation 200 that provides assistance may be considered to be an electronic device assis tance manager The assistance manager may be implemented in any combination of hardware software and or firmware configured to effect the operation 200 that provides assis tance depending upon the design choices of the system designer A further embodiment includes a computer read able media containing computer instructions which when run on a computing device cause the computing device to perform the operation 200 that provides assistance The com puter readable media may include a computer storage media which may be carried by a computer readable carrier such as a floppy disk Alternatively the computer read media may include a communications media 0070 FIG 4isa flow diagram illustrating additional detail related to an alternative embodiment of the exemplary query operation 220 of FIG 3 At aspect selection operation 250 a selection corresponding to the
8. context a software context intrinsic to the electronic device and or a hardware context The receiving a query through a first user interface may include detecting a touch to the first user interface The receiving a query through a first user interface may include detecting a sound through the first user interface The detecting a sound may in tide detecting a spo ken word 0008 The electronic device may include a computing device and the receiving a query may include receiving a query related to an aspect of the computing device The elec tronic device may include an electrical appliance and the receiving a query may include receiving a query related to an aspect of the electrical appliance The electronic device may include a limited resource computing device and the receiv ing query may include receiving a query related to an aspect of the limited resource computing device The electronic device may include a pervasive computing device and the receiving a query may include receiving a query related to an aspect of the pervasive computing device 0009 The providing an assistance may include providing a user assistance visually providing an assistance audibly providing an assistance providing a spoken assistance tac tilely providing an assistance providing a guided response assistance and or providing an interactive tutorial assistance The providing an assistance may include providing an assis tance corresponding with a physica
9. electronic Sep 12 2013 device and a means for providing an assistance correlating to the assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device 0023 Another embodiment provides a method The method includes activating a help mode in an electronic device and receiving a selection of an aspect of the electronic device through a receiver associated with the aspect The method also includes sensing a contextual parameter related to the electronic device through a sensor associated with the electronic device and broadcasting a tutorial that includes information related to the selected aspect of the electronic device and the contextual parameter through an indicator associated with the electronic device 0024 A further embodiment provides a system The sys tem includes an electronic device having a context sensor a receiver associated with an aspect of the electronic device and an indicator The system also includes instructions which when implemented in the electronic device cause the elec tronic device to perform operations that activate a help mode and receive a selection of the aspect of the electronic device through the receiver sense a contextual parameter related to the electronic device through the sensor and broadcast a tutorial that includes information related to the selected aspect of the electronic device and to the contextual param eter through an indicator associated with the electronic device 0025 I
10. electronic device is received through the first interface As described in conjunction with query operation 220 of FIG 3 the selection designates a subject matter of the query and may include a selection of an aspect of the electronic device The selection may include an aspect related to the electronic device such as a component associated with the device a feature associated with the elec tronic device a function associated with the electronic device a program associated with the electronic device and a process associated with the electronic device In an embodi ment the first interface may include a first user interface 0071 Inan embodiment the selection may be received by detecting a touch to a first user interface associated with the US 2013 0238991 Al electronic device such as a button or a component The touch may be received in any manner For example such as from a user body part physically contacting the first user interface a user body part being proximate to the first user interface and a user body part having an orientation to the first user inter face Similarly for example a touch may be received by a stylus physically contacting the first user interface being proximate to the first user interface and having an orientation to the first user interface 0072 The first user interface may be associated with an aspect of the electronic device such as a physical association Using a button for example a firs
11. in which embodiments may be implemented 0033 FIG 7 is illustrating an exemplary operation that receives assistance presentation 0034 FIG 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation that receives an assistance presentation 0035 FIG 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation that provides contextual assistance and 0036 FIG 10 is a flow diagram illustrating another exem plary operation that provides contextual assistance US 2013 0238991 Al DETAILED DESCRIPTION 0037 In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments reference is made to the accompanying draw ings which form a part hereof In the several figures like referenced numerals identify like elements The detailed description and the drawings illustrate exemplary embodi ments Other embodiments may be utilized and other changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of the claimed subject matter is defined by the appended claims 0038 Features functionality and options of computing devices such as personal computers have rapidly advanced as technology provides increased processor speeds storage capacity connectivity and interconnectivity all at decreased cost At the same time software programs games and pro cedures have similarly rapidly advanced Addi
12. limited to the term having should be interpreted as having at least the term includes should be interpreted as includes but is not limited to etc It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present For example as an aid to understanding the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases at least one and one or more to introduce claim recitations How ever the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles or an limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases one or more or at least one and indefinite articles such as or e g and or an Sep 12 2013 should typically be interpreted to mean least one or one or the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations In addition even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited those skilled in the art will recognize that such reci tation should typically be int
13. resource computing device and the query may relate to an aspect of the limited resource computing device The electronic device may include a pervasive computing device and the query may relate to an aspect of the pervasive computing device The electronic device may include a digital appliance and the query may relate to an aspect of the digital appliance 0063 At search operation 230 an assistance file is searched for an assistance response correlating to the query Searching the assistance file may include searching an assis tance file stored in a storage media associated with the elec tronic device such as the system memory 22 of FIG 1 or coupled with the electronic device Alternatively the assis tance file may be stored and or searched remotely and coupled with a functionality of the operation 230 such as by a network such as a LAN a WAN or the Internet 0064 At assistance operation 240 an assistance response is provided correlating to the query through a second interface of the electronic device In an embodiment the assistance response provided may include visually providing an assis tance with a physical element of the device such as blinking a light associated with the physical element For example the physical element may be a physical button and the light may be a light emitting device incorporated into the button In this example the assistance may include blinking the LED asso ciated with the button In an altern
14. sense a context intrinsic to the electronic device 0012 further embodiment provides an apparatus The apparatus includes a means associated with an electronic device for receiving a query related to the electronic device and a means associated with the electronic device for sensing a context of the electronic device The apparatus further includes means associated with the electronic device for pro viding an assistance corresponding to the query 0013 An embodiment provides a system The system includes a query module operable to receive a query related to an electronic device through a first user interface associated with an electronic device and a sensor module operable to sense a context of the electronic device The system also includes an assistance module operable to provide an assis tance corresponding to the query and the context of the elec tronic device through a second user interface associated with the electronic device 0014 Another embodiment provides method The method includes receiving a selection corresponding to an aspect of an electronic device through a first user interface of the elec tronic device and receiving a selection corresponding to an assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device through a second user interface of the electronic device The method also includes sensing an environmental Sep 12 2013 context of the electronic device and providing an assistance correlating to
15. the digital camera 310 is a snowy environment ona sunny day the external temperature sensor 352 would sense temperatures at or below freezing and the light intensity sensor 354 would sense strong sunlight By way of further example if the context of the digital camera 310 is a tropical beach the external temperature sensor 352 would sense a warm tem perature and the light sensor 354 would sense bright sunlight In another example if the context of the digital camera 310 was indoors under incandescent lighting the external tem perature sensor 352 would sense a room temperature and the Sep 12 2013 light sensor 354 would sense a light frequency pattern corre lating to incandescent lighting 0106 At the search operation 520 the assistance manager searches an assistance file for an assistance correlating to both the query related to the user selected shutter button 344E and the sensed context Using the above example where the digital camera is in a snowy environment on a sunny day the assis tance manager program may search an assistance file for a user assistance correlating to selecting shutter speeds used in a bright sunlight and cold temperature environment 0107 At the broadcast operation 525 the assistance man ager provides a user assistance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface of the digital camera 310 Using the above example of the snow scene the provided assistance may incl
16. the assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device and the environmental context through a third user interface of the electronic device 0015 The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state and the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in asecond state The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state the second user inter face may include the element of the electronic device in a second state and the third user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a third state One of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state and another of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface may include the element of the electronic device in second state The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first mode and the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second mode The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first mode the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second mode and the third user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a third mode One of the first user interface the second user inte
17. with FIG 9 At search operation 575 an assistance file is searched for an assistance correlating to the selection corre sponding to an assistance request and the sensed context The search operation 575 may be substantially similar to the search operation 520 of the exemplary process 500 that pro vides an assistance described in conjunction with FIG 9 0112 At broadcast operation 580 the assistance correlat ing to the assistance request related to the aspect of the elec tronic device and the environmental context is provided through a third user interface of the electronic device The broadcast operation 580 may be substantially similar to the help operation 525 of the exemplary process 500 that pro vides an assistance described in conjunction with FIG 9 The three user interfaces may be related in any suitable selected manner For example in an embodiment the first user inter face includes an element of the electronic device in a first state and the second user interface includes the element of the electronic device in a second state In another embodiment the first user interface includes an element of the electronic device in a first state the second user interface includes the element of the electronic device in a second state and the third user interface includes the element of the electronic device in a third state Ina further embodiment one of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interfa
18. In this illustrative operation of an embodiment the button 344D in a long touch mode is designated as an assistance manager activation button The assistance manager is activated in response to the button 344D receiving a long touch The assistance manager transi tions the buttons 344A 344E to a first state The user inputs the selection corresponding to an aspect of the digital camera 310 by touching an interface associated with the aspect For example a user touch may be received at button 344E the shutter button by an interface normally associated with the shutter button Because the assistance manager has been acti vated and the buttons are ina first state the touch to the button 344E is received as an input selection corresponding to an aspect of the digital camera the shutter button The assistance manager then transitions the buttons 344A 344E to a second state and displays a plurality of assistance requests which are visually associated with the buttons 344A 344C The buttons 344A 344C may be appropriately reference by information displayed on the display 332 such as show me demon strate and guide me respectively The association may be by lead lines indicating a visual association between a respec tive word and their respective button A user touch to one of the buttons 344A 344C is received by the assistance manager as a selection corresponding to an assistance request For example if the button 344A is visuall
19. Often the operating system 134 offers services to applica tions programs 135 by way of one or more application pro gramming interfaces APIs not shown Because the oper ating system 134 incorporates these services developers of applications programs 135 need not redevelop code to use the services Examples of APIs provided by operating systems such as Microsoft s WINDOWS are well known in the art 0052 The computer 100 may also include other remov able non removable volatile nonvolatile computer storage media By way of example only FIG 2 illustrates a non removable non volatile memory interface hard disk inter face 140 that reads from and writes to non removable non volatile magnetic media a magnetic disk drive 151 that reads from and writes to a removable nonvolatile magnetic disk 152 and an optical disk drive 155 that reads from and writes to a removable nonvolatile optical disk 156 such as a CD ROM Other removable no removable volatile nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include but are not limited to mag netic tape cassettes flash memory cards DVDs digital video tape solid state RAM and solid state ROM The hard disk drive 141 is typically connected to the system bus 121 through anon removable memory interface such as the interface 140 and magnetic disk drive 151 and optical disk drive 55 are typically connected to the system bus 121 by a removable
20. US 20130238991A1 as United States a2 Patent Application Publication Pub No US 2013 0238991 1 Jung et al 43 Pub Date Sep 12 2013 54 ENHANCED CONTEXTUAL USER 52 U S Cl ASSISTANCE desired 06 3 048 2013 01 71 Applicant SEARETE LLC Bellevue WA US USPC 715 708 72 Inventors Edward K Y Jung Bellevue WA US Royce A Levien Lexington MA US 57 ABSTRACT Mark Malamud Seattle WA US John D Rinaldo JR Bellevue WA US In an approach an exemplary method includes receiving a query related to an electronic device through a first user 73 Assignee SEARETE LLC Bellevue WA US interface associated with the electronic device sensing a con text of the electronic device and providing an assistance 21 Appl No 13 718 418 correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device In 22 Filed Dec 18 2012 another approach an exemplary system includes an elec Related U S Application Data tronic device having a context sensor a first and a second user interface and instructions The instructions cause the elec 63 Continuation in part of application No 10 974 561 tronic device to receive a query related to the electronic filed on Oct 27 2004 now Pat No 8 341 522 device through a first user interface associated with the elec tronic device receive a context of the electronic device from Pub
21. a tion 230 At provide assistance operation 290 the another assistance is provided The another assistance may be any type of assistance including one or more of the types of assistance described above and may include an interactive question and answer format and a tutorial format The exem plary operation 270 then moves to an end operation 0078 FIG 6 illustrates an exemplary system 300 in which embodiments may be implemented The system 300 includes a digital camera 310 having image capture and image storage functionality The digital camera 310 includes a computing device not shown such as the thin computing device 20 described in conjunction with FIG 1 The digital camera 310 also includes a plurality of interfaces 320 The plurality of interfaces 320 includes a display 332 In alternative embodi ments the display 332 may provide a textual a visual display and a graphical display In a further embodiment the display 332 may include touch screen functionality operable to accept a user input The plurality of user interfaces 320 of the camera 310 also includes a microphone 334 a speaker 338 and a plurality of tangible buttons 344A4 344E or more of the tangible buttons may include a light emitter such as a light emitting device 346A Further one or more of the tan gible buttons 344 344 may include a vibrator operable to provide a tactile display The display 332 and the tangible buttons 344A 344E may have any funct
22. aim 1 wherein the first user interface includes an element of the electronic device in a first mode and the second user interface includes the element of the electronic device in a second mode 4 The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving a query related to an electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device includes receiving a selection of an aspect of the electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device US 2013 0238991 Al 5 The method of claim 4 wherein the receiving a selection of an aspect of the electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device includes receiving a selection of an aspect of the electronic device through a first user interface associated with the aspect of the electronic device 6 The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving a query related to an electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device includes detecting a touch through a first user interface associated with the elec tronic device 7 The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving a query related to an electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device includes receiving a selection of an aspect of the electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device 8 canceled 9 The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving a query related to
23. an electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device includes receiving a selection corresponding to an assistance request 10 The method of claim 1 wherein the sensing a context of the electronic device includes sensing a context extrinsic to the electronic device 11 The method of claim 1 wherein the sensing a context of the electronic device includes sensing an environment extrin sic to the electronic device 12 The method of claim 1 wherein the sensing a context of the electronic device includes sensing a context intrinsic to the electronic device 13 15 canceled 16 The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving a query related to an electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device includes detecting a touch to the first user interface 17 The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving a query related to an electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device includes detecting a sound through the first user interface 18 The method of claim 17 wherein the detecting a sound through the first user interface includes detecting a spoken word 19 22 canceled 23 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes providing a user assistance 24 The method of claim 1 wherein the prov
24. ances to cars from homes to the human body from personal information devices to a common a coffee mug can have an embedded electronic device that includes a thin computing device The embedded electronic device typically improves performance and capac ity of a basic functionality of the item and may connect the item with a network of other items or the Internet These items with embedded electronic devices may be described using a variety of names which may not have a bright line distinction between them Commonly used names include a limited resource computing device limited capacity computing device ubiquitous computing device pervasive computing device digital appliance and Internet appliance Such items may be collectively referred to herein from time to time as pervasive computing or a pervasive computing device for economy of words and to aid in reading and understanding embodiments disclosed herein 0042 Pervasive computing provides increased functional ity it often requires increased interaction between a user and a previously dumb device Pervasive computing devices such Sep 12 2013 as conventional telephones cell phones smart phones pocket organizers and personal digital assistants often present a user with widely varying user interface protocols This may contribute to user confusion about an aspect of the pervasive computing device they are viewing such as a par ticular button As a result simpl
25. ative embodiment the second interface may include an LED and a third interface may include a speaker The provided assistance may include providing an audible assistance presentation from the speaker and blinking the LED appropriately during the presentation The audible assistance presentation may include a spoken presentation that includes a word or words The providing an assistance further may include tactilely providing an assis tance presentation 0065 The provided assistance may include guidance through a process associated with the aspect of the device a description of the aspect of the device a showing how the aspect of the device works and or an interactive tutorial The assistance may be provided in any manner such as a visual presentation an audio presentation a spoken presentation a tactile presentation and or a combination of two or more of these manners of presentation 0066 In an embodiment the second interface may be a second user interface The second user interface may include a visual display a graphical display and a graphical user interface The second user interface may include an audio display such as an acoustic speaker Further the second user interface may include a tactile interface such as a vibrating component The operation then proceeds to a stop operation Sep 12 2013 0067 The first interface and the second interface may be at least substantially similar and the second user interface may
26. ce includes an element of the electronic device in a first state and another of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface include the element of the electronic device in a second state In an embodiment the first user interface includes an element of the electronic device in a first mode and the second user interface includes the element of the electronic device in a second mode In another embodiment the first user interface includes an ele ment of the electronic device in a first mode the second user interface includes the element of the electronic device in a second mode and the third user interface includes the ele ment of the electronic device in a third mode In a further embodiment one of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface include an element of Sep 12 2013 the electronic device in a first mode and another of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface include the element of the electronic device in a second mode 0113 Inan alternative embodiment the exemplary opera tion 550 that provides assistance further includes the exem plary operation 270 which provides additional assistance as described in conjunction with FIG 3 0114 Inan embodiment the exemplary operation 550 that provides contextual assistance may be considered to be an electronic device assistance manager The assistance man ager may
27. ce is in a different mode or state 0076 FIG 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation 270 that provides an additional assistance supple Sep 12 2013 menting the exemplary operation 200 described in conjunc tion with FIG 3 The exemplary operation 270 provides an additional assistance After a start operation and after the provide assistance operation 240 of FIG 3 the exemplary operation 270 moves to a receive input operation 280 At the receive input operation 280 an input relating to the provide assistance operation 240 is received The input may be received through any interface including one or more of the user interfaces described in conjunction with the exemplary operation 200 and FIG 3 In addition the input may be received through an addition interface of the electronic device The input relating to the provide assistance operation 240 may include a request for an additional assistance corre lating to the assistance provided by the provide assistance operation 240 Alternatively the input responsive to the pro vide assistance operation 240 may include a request that further correlates to the aspect of the device 0077 At a search operation 285 the assistance file is searched for another assistance response correlating to the input relating to the provide assistance operation 240 The assistance file may be searched in a manner substantially similar to the searching an assistance file at the search oper
28. cond user interface associated with the electronic device The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state and the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second state The first user interface may include an clement of the electronic device in a first mode and the second user interface may include the element of the elec tronic device in a second mode The first user interface asso ciated with an aspect of the electronic device may include a first user interface physically associated with an aspect of the electronic device The first user interface associated with an aspect of the electronic device may include a first user inter face virtually associated with the aspect of the electronic device 0007 The receiving a selection of an aspect of the elec tronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device may include detecting a touch through a first user interface associated with the electronic device The sens ing a context of the electronic device may include sensing a context extrinsic to the electronic device The sensing a con text of the electronic device may include sensing an environ ment extrinsic to the electronic device The sensing a context of the electronic device may include sensing a context intrin sic to the electronic device The sensing a content intrinsic to the electronic device may include sensing a configuration
29. cted to the system bus 121 via an interface such as a video interface 190 In addition to the monitor computers may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers 197 and printer 196 which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 195 0054 The computer 100 may operate in a networked envi ronment using logical connections to one or more remote computers such as a remote computer 180 The remote com puter 180 may be a personal computer a server a router a network PC a peer device or other common network node and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 100 although only a memory storage device 181 has been illustrated in FIG 2 The logical connections depicted in FIG 2 include a local area network LAN 171 and a wide area network WAN 173 but may also include other networks such as a personal area network PAN not shown Such networking environments are com monplace in offices enterprise wide computer networks intranets and the Internet 0055 When used in a LAN networking environment the computer 100 is connected to the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170 When used in a WAN networking environment the computer 100 typically includes a modem 172 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 173 such as the Internet The modem 172 which may be internal or external may be connected to the system bus 121 via the u
30. dia may include a compiler storage media which may be carried by a computer readable carrier such as a floppy disk Alternatively the com puter readable media may include a communications media 0104 The exemplary operation 500 that provides contex tual assistance may be implemented in any device or item where enhanced contextual user assistance may be advanta geously employed For example the exemplary operation 500 may be implemented in the system 300 described in conjunction with FIG 6 The digital camera 310 of the system 300 includes context sensors 350 which are illustrated as the temperature sensor 352 and the light intensity sensor 354 In this example the assistance manager includes operability to implement the exemplary operation 500 Continuing with the operational example described in conjunction with FIG 6 a user interested in receiving assistance activates the assistance manager at help activation operation 505 by a long touch to the button 344D 0105 At query receive operation 510 the assistance man ager operates in a manner similar to that described in con junction with FIG 6 for query operation 220 where a touch to the shutter button 344E is detected as a query At context operation 515 the assistance manager operates to sense a context of the electronic device In this example the context is sensed through the external temperature sensor 352 and the light intensity sensor 354 If for example the context of
31. diment the selection is received through a third inter face of the electronic device and the third interface may include a third user interface The receiving a selection cor responding to an assistance request associated with the selec tion may include detecting a touch to the third user interface The third user interface may include a button The third user interface may include at least one predetermined query The selection corresponding to an assistance request may include a request for a description of functionality a request for a description of process a request for instruction a request for information and or a request for guidance The request for guidance may include a request for a guidance related to replicating a previous operation of the device The receiving a selection corresponding to an assistance request may include receiving a selection corresponding to an assistance request selected from a plurality of selections 0075 Atleast two of first second and third user interfaces may be at least substantially similar In an embodiment and similar to the embodiment of the exemplary operation 200 that provides an assistance described in conjunction with FIG 3 at least two of the first interface the second interface and the third interface may comprise a same physical or virtual device At least two of the interfaces may share a same physical or virtual device but be separately activated when the physical or virtual devi
32. e electronic device receive a context of the electronic device from the con text sensor and provide an assistance correlating to the assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device and to the context of the electronic device through a third user interface of the electronic device 81 93 canceled 94 The method of claim 1 wherein the first user interface associated with the electronic device includes a touchscreen of the electronic device presenting a first user interface and the second user interface associated with the electronic device includes the touchscreen of the electronic device presenting a second user interface
33. edium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computer 100 Communi cations media typically embody computer readable instruc tions data structures program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and include any information delivery media The term modulated data signal means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal By way of example and not limitation communications media include wired media such as a wired network and a direct wired connection and wireless media such as acoustic RF optical and infrared media Combinations of the any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media 0051 The system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and nonvolatile memory such as ROM 131 and RAM 132 A basic input output system BIOS 133 containing the basic routines that help to transfer infor mation between elements within the computer 100 such as during start up is typically stored in ROM 131 RAM 132 typically contains data and program modules that are imme diately accessible to or presently being operated on by pro cessing unit 120 By way of example and not limitation FIG 2 illustrates an operating system 134 application programs 135 other program modules 136 and program data 137
34. electronic device cause the electronic device to receive a query related to the electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device and receive a context of the elec tronic device from the context sensor The instructions also cause the electronic device to provide an assistance corre sponding to the query and the context of the electronic device through a second user interface associated with the electronic device 0011 The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state and the second user inter face may include the element of the electronic device in a second state The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first mode and the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second mode The second user interface may include the first user interface The first user interface may include a button The button may include a tangible button The button may include a virtual button The second user interface may include a visual display The visual display may include a visual display surface The visual display may include a light emitter The context sensor may include a context sensor configured to sense a context extrinsic to the electronic device The context sensor may include a sensor configured to sense an environment extrinsic to the electronic device The context sensor may include a sensor configured to
35. emory bus or memory controller a peripheral bus and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures By way of example and not limitation such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture ISA bus Micro Channel Architecture MCA bus Enhanced ISA EISA bus Video Electronics Standards Association VESA local bus and Peripheral Component Interconnect PCI bus also known as Mezzanine bus 0050 The computer 100 typically includes a variety of computer readable media Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by the computer 100 and include both volatile and nonvolatile media removable and non removable media way of example and not limi tation computer readable media may include computer stor age media and communications media Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile removable and non removable media implemented in any method or tech nology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions data structures program modules or other data Computer storage media include but are not limited to ran Sep 12 2013 dom access memory RAM read only memory ROM electrically erasable programmable read only memory EE PROM flash memory or other memory technology CD ROM digital versatile disks DVD or other optical disk storage magnetic cassettes magnetic tape magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other m
36. erpreted to mean at least the recited number e g the bare recitation of two recitations without other modifiers typically means at least two recita tions or two or more recitations Furthermore in those instances where a convention analogous to least one of A B and C etc is used in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would under stand the convention e g a system having at least one of A B and C would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone B alone C alone A and B together A and C together B and C together and or A B and C together etc In those instances where a convention analogous to least one of A B or etc is used in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention e g a system having at least one of A or C would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone B alone C alone A and B together A and C together B and C together and or A B and C together etc 0119 The herein described aspects depict different com ponents contained within or connected with different other components It is to be understood that such depicted archi tectures are merely exemplary and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality In a conceptual sense any arrangement of com ponents to achie
37. ext operation 515 includes a sensed mountain background context 0099 At search operation 520 an assistance file is searched for an assistance correlating with the query and the sensed context The assistance file may have any association with the electronic device For example the assistance file may be saved in a storage physically incorporated in the electronic device a storage local to the electronic device and saved in a storage accessible to the electronic device over a network 0100 At broadcast operation 525 an assistance correlat ing to the query and the sensed context is provided through a second user interface associated with the electronic device The provided assistance may be any assistance correlating to both the query and the sensed context For example the provided assistance may include a guided response assis tance an interactive tutorial assistance an assistance corre sponding with a physical element of the electronic device a guidance corresponding with a process associated with the electronic device showing how an aspect of the device works and or a description of an aspect of the electronic device The provided assistance may be presented in any manner through the second user interface For example the provided assis tance may include visually providing an assistance such as blinking a light emitter associated with a physical element of US 2013 0238991 Al the electronic device or displaying text gra
38. hin computing device 20 includes a processing unit 21 a system memory 22 anda system bus 23 that couples various system components including the system memory 22 to the process ing unit 21 The system bus 23 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller a peripheral bus and a local bus using any ofa variety of bus architectures The system memory includes read only memory ROM 24 and random access memory RAM 25 A basic input output system BIOS 26 containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between sub com ponents within the thin computing device 20 such as during start up is stored in the ROM 24 A number of program modules may be stored in the ROM 24 and or RAM 25 including an operating system 28 one or more application programs 29 other program modules 30 and program data 31 0045 user may enter commands and information into the computing device 20 through input devices such as a number of switches and buttons illustrated as hardware but tons 44 connected to the system via a suitable interface 45 Input devices may further include a touch sensitive display screen 32 with suitable input detection circuitry 33 The output circuitry of the touch sensitive display 32 is connected to the system bus 23 via a video driver 37 Other input devices may include a microphone 34 connected through a suitable audio interface 35 and a physical hardware keyboard not shown
39. iding an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes visually providing an assistance 25 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes audibly providing an assistance 26 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes providing a spoken assistance 27 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes tactilely providing an assistance Sep 12 2013 28 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes providing a guided response assistance 29 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes providing an interactive tutorial assistance 30 canceled 31 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed c
40. iest available effective filing date s from and also incorporates by refer ence in its entirety all subject matter of any and all parent grandparent great grandparent etc applications of the herein listed application s The United States Patent Office USPTO has published a notice to the effect that the USP TO s computer programs require that patent applicants ref erence both a serial number and indicate whether an applica tion is a continuation or continuation in part The present applicant entity has provided below a specific reference to the application s from which priority is being claimed as recited by statute Applicant entity understands that the statute is unambiguous in its specific reference language and does not require either a serial number or any characterization such as continuation or continuation in part Notwithstanding the foregoing applicant entity understands that the USPTO s computer programs have certain data entry requirements and hence applicant entity is designating the present application as a continuation in part of its parent applications but expressly points out that such designations are not to be construed in any way as any type of commentary and or admission as to whether or not the present application con tains any new matter in addition to the matter of its parent application s 0002 1 For purposes of the USPTO extra statutory requirements the present application constitutes a c
41. ilar In an embodiment and similar to the embodiment of the exemplary operation 200 that provides an assistance described in conjunction with FIG 3 the first interface and the second interface may comprise a same physical or virtual device The first and second interfaces may share a same physical or a same virtual device but be sepa rately activatable when the physical or virtual device is in a different activating mode or state 0092 FIG 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation 450 that receives an assistance presentation After a start operation the operation moves to a selection operation 460 At selection operation 460 a selection corresponding an aspect of an electronic device is inputted through a first user interface associated with the electronic device At request operation 465 an assistance request related to the aspect is inputted through a second user interface associated with the electronic device The selection and request may typically be inputted by a human user At wait operation 470 the inputter waits while an assistance file is searched for the assistance presentation correlating to the assistance request At receive assistance operation 475 an assistance presentation correlat ing to the assistance request is received through a third user interface associated with the electronic device The exem plary operation 450 then proceeds to an end operation 0093 FIG 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemp
42. ion Publication Sep 12 2013 Sheet 5 of 10 FIG 5 270 Provide assistance corresponding to the query Receive an input responsive to the provided assistance Search the assistance file for another assistance Provide another assistance corresponding to the input responsive to the provided assistance US 2013 0238991 240 280 285 290 Patent Application Publication Sep 12 2013 Sheet 6 of 10 US 2013 0238991 FIG 6 300 310 TN Patent Application Publication Sep 12 2013 Sheet 7 of 10 US 2013 0238991 400 FIG 7 Input a query through a first interface 410 Wait while an assistance file searched 430 Receive presentation of assistance response through a second interface 440 Patent Application Publication Sep 12 2013 Sheet 8 of 10 FIG 8 450 Input a selection corresponding to an aspect of an electronic device through a first interface Input an assistance request related to the aspect through a second user interface Wait while an assistance file searched Receive presentation of assistance through a third user interface US 2013 0238991 460 465 470 475 Patent Application Publication Sep 12 2013 Sheet 9 of 10 FIG 9 500 Activate an assistance manager Receive a query related to an electronic device through a first user interface Sense a context of the electronic device Search an assistance file for an a
43. ionality appropriate to the digital camera For example button 344E may be assigned to operate a camera element such as a shutter func tion Button 344A may be assigned an enter function and buttons 344B and 344C may be respectively assigned a scroll up and scroll down function relative to a menu displayed on the display 332 Button 344D may be assigned to operate another camera element such as a lens zoom function The digital camera 310 also includes context sensors 350 which may be selected for example to produce relevant informa tion about an environment extrinsic to the digital camera The context sensors 350 are illustrated as an external temperature sensor 352 and light intensity sensor 354 The digital camera 310 further includes a USB port 340 and a network port 342 0079 The digital camera 310 also includes a system memory not shown such as the system memory 22 of the thin computing device 20 of FIG 1 The system memory includes saved operating systems and programs necessary to US 2013 0238991 Al operate the digital camera 310 and also includes an assis tance manager operable to implement the operation 200 that provides assistance of FIG 3 The system memory also includes an assistance file which may be included in the assistance manager The assistance file includes a body of assistance information intended to help a user in response to a plurality of user selected requests related to the digital camera 310
44. ions such as program mod ules being executed by a computer Generally program mod ules include routines programs objects components data structures etc that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types An embodiment may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network In a distributed comput ing environment program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices 0060 FIG 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation 200 that provides assistance After a start operation the operation moves to operation 210 At activation operation 210 an assistance manager is activated The assistance man ager typically includes instructions such as computer read able instructions for example a program process and or application operating on an electronic device that implements the exemplary operation 200 that provides assistance 0061 At query operation 220 a query related to an elec tronic device is received through a first interface associated with the electronic device The query may include a selection of an aspect of the electronic device as a subject of the query The query may include any aspect of the electronic device for which a user might desire assistance such as a feature of the device an element of the device and a p
45. istance manager transitions the user interfaces to a second state A detected subsequent user touch to a user interface of the plurality of user interfaces 320 may be received as selec tion corresponding to an assistance request through the sec ond user interface of the electronic device For example once Sep 12 2013 the assistance manager transitions the user interfaces 320 to the second state information may be displayed on the display 332 indicating assistance selections associated with the but tons 344A 344C The buttons may be appropriately refer enced by information displayed on the display 332 such as show me demonstrate and guide me respectively A selection corresponding to an assistance request is received by the assistance manager as received selection correspond ing to an assistance selection operation 260 as described in conjunction with FIG 4 0085 In the above alternative environment detection of a signal responsive to a sound or voice received by the micro phone 334 the assistance selection operation 260 may be received by detection and recognition of a signal responsive to spoken commands received by the microphone such as show me demonstrate and guide me 0086 In operation of an embodiment a user in rested in receiving assistance related to the digital camera activates the assistance manager by a long touch to at least one interface of the plurality of interfaces 320
46. ived in any manner through the first user interface For example the query may be received by detecting a touch to the first user interface by detecting a sound through the first user interface and or by detecting a spoken word The electronic device may include any type of electronic device For example an electronic device may include a computing device a pervasive comput ing device a limited resource computing device and or an electrical appliance The query may include a query related to an aspect of the electronic device 0097 context operation 515 a context of the electronic device is sensed The sensed context may include any con textual parameter related to the electronic device For example the sensed context may include sensing a context extrinsic to the electronic device an environment extrinsic to the electronic device and or a context intrinsic to the elec tronic device The intrinsic context may include any intrinsic context or state of the electronic device For example sensing a context intrinsic to the electronic device may include sens ing a configuration context a software context intrinsic to the electronic device and or a hardware context 0098 The query receive operation 510 may include receiving a query related to an electronic device and a sensed context of the electronic device For example a query may include a request for assistance correlating to taking a portrait where a sensed context at cont
47. l element of the electronic device The providing an assistance corresponding with the physical element of the device may include blinking a light emitter associated with the physical element The providing an assistance may include providing a guidance corresponding with a process associated with the electronic device The providing an assistance may include providing a description of an aspect of the electronic device The providing an assis tance may include providing an assistance showing how an aspect of the device works The method may further include searching an assistance file for an assistance correlating with US 2013 0238991 Al the query and the sensed context The receiving a query related to an electronic device may include receiving a query related to an electronic device and a sensed context of the electronic device The method may further include a com puter readable medium containing computer instructions which when run on a computing device cause the computing device to perform the method The computer readable medium may include a computer storage medium The com puter storage medium may be carried by a computer readable carrier The computer readable medium may include a com munications medium 0010 Another embodiment provides a system The sys tem includes an electronic device including a context sensor a first user interface and a second user interface and instruc tions The instructions when implemented in the
48. lary operation 500 that provides contextual assistance After a start operation the operation moves to a help activation operation 505 At help activation operation 505 an assistance manager is activated The assistance manager may include a circuit a module and or instructions such as computer read able instructions for example a program process and or application operating on an electronic device that implement the exemplary operation 500 that provides assistance 0094 At query receive operation 510 a query related to an electronic device is received through a first user interface Sep 12 2013 associated with the electronic device In an embodiment the first user interface may include first user interface associated with an aspect of the electronic device The association may include any form of association with the aspect of the elec tronic device such as for example a physical association and a virtual association 0095 Ina further embodiment the first user interface may include a button The button may include anything that accepts a user input expression For example the button may include a tangible button and a virtual button By way of further example the receiving a selection of an aspect of the electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device may include detecting a touch through a first user interface associated with the electronic device 0096 The query may be rece
49. lication Classification the context sensor and provide an assistance corresponding to the query and the context of the electronic device through 51 Int Cl 3 048 2006 01 second user interface associated with the electronic device 200 SS Activate an assistance manager Receive a query through a first interface Search an assistance file for assistance correlating with the query Provide assistance corresponding to the query through a second interface US 2013 0238991 Sep 12 2013 Sheet 1 of 10 Patent Application Publication oE 6c Viva 5 WYdD0ud 1 oz 6e s3940 1 3 a m ae _ NOILYONddY NILYYJdO SNOLLNG LuOd ANOHdONDIW gsn AA oP 1 5 45 asn 7 SSATSYIM 3OVIYSLNI Nouns AYOMLAN EE 313 FZ LINN 0 ONISSADONd 77 5 1 WALSAS WNOILONNSA SOIAAG m 4 mmc eee eee 05 US 2013 0238991 Sep 12 2013 Sheet 2 of 10 Patent Applicati
50. n addition to the foregoing various other method and or system aspects are set forth and described in the text e g claims and or detailed description and or drawings of the present application 0026 The foregoing is a summary and thus contains by necessity simplifications generalizations and omissions of detail consequently those skilled in the art will appreciate that the sun unary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting Other aspects inventive features and advantages of the devices and or processes described herein as defined solely by the claims will become apparent in the detailed description set forth herein BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0027 FIG 1 illustrates an exemplary system in which embodiments may be implemented including a thin comput ing device and a functional element of an electronic device 0028 FIG 2 illustrates another exemplary system in which embodiments may be implemented including a gen eral purpose computing device 0029 FIG 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation that provides assistance 0030 FIG 4isa flow diagram illustrating additional detail related to an alternative embodiment of the exemplary opera tion of FIG 3 0031 FIG 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation supplementing the exemplary query operation that provides assistance described in conjunction with FIG 3 0032 FIG 6 illustrates an exemplary system
51. nce request and the sensed context The searching the assistance file may include searching an assistance file stored in asso ciation with the electronic device 0018 The method may further include receiving an input responsive to the provided assistance The input responsive to the provided assistance may include a request for an addi tional assistance correlating to the provided assistance The method may further include providing another assistance cor responding to the received input responsive to the provided assistance The method may further include a computer read able medium containing computer instructions which when run on a computing device cause the computing device to perform the method The computer readable medium may US 2013 0238991 Al include a computer storage medium The computer readable medium may be carried by a computer readable carrier 0019 A further embodiment provides a system The sys tem includes an electronic device having a context sensor a first user interface a second user interface and third user interface The system also includes instructions which when implemented in the electronic device cause the electronic device to perform operatic Operations include receive a selec tion corresponding to an aspect of the electronic device through a first user interface of the electronic device and receive a selection corresponding to an assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device
52. nd 515 includes a sensed mountain background context Continuing with this embodi ment at the search operation 520 the assistance manager searches an assistance file for an assistance correlating to both the query related to the user selected shutter button 344E and the sensed extrinsic context acquired in response to a user action in capturing this background through the digital camera 310 0109 FIG 10 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operation 550 that provides contextual assistance After a start operation the operation moves to a help activation operation 555 where an assistance manager is activated The assistance manager may include a circuit a module and or instructions such as computer readable instructions for example a program process and or application operating on an electronic device that implement the exemplary operation 550 that provides assistance At designation operation 560 a selection corresponding to an aspect ofan electronic device is received through a first user interface of the electronic device In an embodiment the first user interface of the electronic device associated with the aspect The selection correspond ing to an aspect of an electronic device may be received through the first user interface in any manner For example the selection may be received by detecting a touch to the first US 2013 0238991 Al user interface and or by detecting a sound through the first user interface
53. nd or examples co tan one or more functions and or operations it will be understood by US 2013 0238991 Al those within the art that each function and or operation within such block diagrams operation diagrams flowcharts or examples can be implemented individually and or collec tively by a wide range of hardware software firmware or virtually any combination thereof In one embodiment sev eral portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits ASICs Field Programmable Gate Arrays FPGAs digital signal processors DSPs or other integrated formats How ever those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein in whole or in part can be equivalently implemented in standard integrated circuits as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers e g as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems as one or more programs running on or more processors e g as programs run ning on one or more microprocessors firmware or as virtually any combination thereof and that designing the circuitry and or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure In addition those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of being di
54. on Publication SWvuDOud io 00 58 Nowvonday LOL LoL E91 S31NGOW 1 1 0 3 081 1OA NON AYOWSIN 1OA NON ATE vVAOWAY 3TEVAOWSY NON viva 5 bLb WYOMLAN 1v907 On 96 6 W3LSAS WuaHdluad AE ozi YOLINOIN i AYOWIN W3LSAS 6 ee ee Old WALSAS ONILVeadO Patent Application Publication Sep 12 2013 Sheet 3 of 10 US 2013 0238991 FIG 3 S 200 Activate an assistance manager 210 Receive a query through a first interface 220 Search an assistance file for assistance correlating with the query 230 Provide assistance corresponding to the query through a second interface 240 Patent Application Publication Sep 12 2013 Sheet 4 of 10 US 2013 0238991 FIG 4 220 Receive selection corresponding to an aspect through a first interface 250 Receive a selection corresponding to an assistance request through a third interface 260 Patent Applicat
55. ontext through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes providing a description of the electronic device 32 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes providing an assistance showing how an aspect of the device works 33 The method of claim 1 wherein the providing an assis tance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associated with the electronic device includes providing an assistance through a physical element of the electronic device 34 The method of claim 33 wherein providing an assis tance through a physical element of the electronic device includes providing an assistance by blinking a light associ ated with a physical element of the electronic device 35 canceled 36 The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving a query including a selection of an aspect of an electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device includes receiving a query including a selection of an aspect of an electronic device and a sensed context of the electronic device 37 40 canceled 41 A system comprising an electronic device including a context sensor a first user interface and a second user interface and instructions for receiving a query related to the electronic device through a firs
56. ontinua tion in part of currently co pending United States patent application entitled PROVIDING ASSISTANCE naming Edward K Y Jung Royce A Levien Mark A Malamud and John D Rinaldo Jr as inventors filed Sep 30 2004 Ser No 10 955 966 0003 2 For purposes of the USPTO extra statutory requirements the present application constitutes a continua tion in part of currently co pending United States patent application entitled ENHANCED USER ASSISTANCE naming Edward K Y Jung Royce A Levien Mark A Mala mud and John D Rinaldo Jr as inventors filed Oct 26 2004 Ser No 10 0004 3 For purposes of the USPTO extra statutory requirements the present application constitutes a continua tion in part of currently co pending United States patent application entitled ENHANCED USER ASSISTANCE naming Edward K Y Jung Royce A Levien Mark A Mala mud and John D Rinaldo Jr as inventors filed Oct 26 2004 Ser No 10 0005 In an event of any inconsistencies between the instant application and an application incorporated by refer ence the instant application controls SUMMARY 0006 An embodiment provides a method The method includes receiving a query related to an electronic device Sep 12 2013 through a first user interface associated with the electronic device sensing a context of the electronic device and pro viding an assistance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a se
57. phics or pictures on a visual display associated with the electronic device Further the provided assistance may include audibly provid ing an assistance such as a spoken assistance and or tactilely providing an assistance such as by vibrating a physical ele ment of the electronic device 0101 In an embodiment the first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state and the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second state In an alternative embodi ment the first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first mode and the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second mode The second user interface may include the first user interface 0102 The operation 500 then proceeds to an end opera tion 0103 Inan embodiment the exemplary operation 500 that provides contextual assistance may be considered to be an electronic device assistance manager The assistance man ager may be implemented in any combination of hardware software and or firmware configured to effect the operation 500 that provides assistance depending upon the design choices of the system designer A further embodiment includes a computer readable media containing computer instructions which when run on a computing device cause the computing device to perform the operation 500 that pro vides assistance The computer readable me
58. rface and the third user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first mode and another of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second mode 0016 Thereceiving a selection corresponding to an aspect of an electronic device through a first user interface of the electronic device may include receiving a selection corre sponding to an aspect of an electronic device through a first user interface of the electronic device associated with the aspect The receiving a selection corresponding to an aspect of an electronic device through a first user interface may include a detecting a touch to the first user interface The receiving a selection corresponding to an aspect of an elec tronic device through a first user interface may include detect ing a sound through the first user interface detecting a spoken word and or detecting a touch to the second user interface The receiving a selection corresponding to an assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device through a second user interface of the electronic device may include receiving a selection corresponding to a predetermined assis tance request related to the aspect of the electronic device through a second user interface of the electronic dev 0017 The method may further include searching an assis tance file for the assistance correlating to the assista
59. rocess associated with the device The query related to the electronic device may include an assistance request related to the electronic device The assistance request may include a request related to the electronic device in any manner including the selected aspect of the electronic device For example the assistance request may include any request related to the electronic device such as show me demonstrate and guide me The first interface may include a first user interface US 2013 0238991 Al 0062 The electro is device may be incorporated into any type of appliance and or item In certain embodiments the electronic device may include a computing device such as a personal computer and a server In other embodiments the electronic device may include a limited resource computing device an appliance a pervasive computing device and a digital appliance Examples may include a PDA a cell phone a Blackberry appliance an on board computing device such as in a car boat and or aircraft an X Box a home gateway a set top box a point of sale terminal a digital camera a TiVo and an automated teller machine By way of further example the electronic device may include a computing device and the query may relate to an aspect of the computing device The electronic device may include an electrical appliance and the query may relate to an aspect of the electrical appliance The electronic device may include a limited
60. s and or systems and or other technologies described herein can be effected e g hardware software and or firmware and that the pre ferred vehicle will vary with the context in which the pro cesses and or systems and or other technologies are deployed For example if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and or firmware vehicle alternatively if flexibility is paramount the implementer may opt for a mainly software implementation or yet again alternatively the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware software and or firmware Hence there are several possible vehicles by which the processes and or devices and or other technologies described herein may be effected none of which is inherently superior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns e g speed flexibility or predictability of the implementer any of which may vary Those skilled in the art will recognize that optical aspects of implementations will require optically oriented hardware software and or firmware 0117 The foregoing detailed description has set forth vari ous embodiments of the devices and or processes via the use of block diagrams flow diagrams operation diagrams flow charts and or examples Insofar as such block diagrams operation diagrams flowcharts a
61. s being described in the foregoing context it is not meant to be limiting as those of skill in the art will appreciate that the acts and operations described hereinafter may also be imple mented in hardware 0057 FIGS 1 and 2 illustrate an example of a suitable environment on which embodiments may be implemented The computing device 20 of FIG 1 and or computer 100 of FIG 2 are examples of a suitable environment and are not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of an embodiment Neither should the environ ment be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in an exemplary operating environment 0058 Embodiments may be implemented with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing devices and computing system environments or configurations Examples of well known computing systems environments and configurations that may be suitable for use with an embodiment include but are not limited to personal comput ers server computers hand held or laptop devices personal digital assistants multiprocessor systems microprocessor based systems set top boxes programmable consumer elec tronics network PCs minicomputers mainframe computers and distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices 0059 Embodiments may be described in a general context of computer executable instruct
62. ser input interface 160 or via another appropri ate mechanism In a networked environment program mod ules depicted relative to the computer 100 or portions thereof may be storedina remote memory storage device By way of example and not limitation FIG 2 illustrates remote application programs 185 as residing on memory device 181 It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used 0056 Inthe description that follows embodiments will be described with reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations that are performed by one or more computing devices such a computing device 20 of FIG 1 and or com puter 100 of FIG 2 unless indicated otherwise As such it will be understood that such acts and operations which are at times referred to as being computer executed include the manipulation by the processing unit of the computer of elec trical signals representing data in a structured form This manipulation transforms the data or maintains them at loca tions in the memory system of the computer which reconfig ures or otherwise alters the operation of the computer in a manner well understood by those skilled in the art The data Sep 12 2013 structures where data are maintained are physical locations of the memory that have particular properties defined by the format of the data However while an embodiment i
63. ssistance corresponding to the query and the sensed context Provide an assistance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface US 2013 0238991 505 510 515 520 525 Patent Application Publication Sep 12 2013 Sheet 10 of 10 US 2013 0238991 550 FIG 10 Activate an assistance manager 555 Receive a selection corresponding to an aspect of an electronic device through a first user interface 560 Receive a selection corresponding to an assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device through a second user 5 interface Sense a context of the electronic device 570 Search an assistance file for an assistance correlating to the assistance request and the sensed context 575 Provide the assistance correlating to the assistance request and the sensed context through a third user interface 580 US 2013 0238991 Al ENHANCED CONTEXTUAL USER ASSISTANCE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 The present application is related to claims the ear liest available effective filing date s from e g claims earli est available priority dates for other than provisional patent applications claims benefits under 35 USC 119 e for pro visional patent applications and incorporates by reference in its entirety all subject matter of the herein listed application s the present application also claims the earl
64. stributed as a program product in a variety of forms and that an illustrative embodi ment of the subject matter described herein applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media used to actually carry out the distribution Examples of a signal bearing media include but are not limited to the following recordable type media such as floppy disks hard disk drives CD ROMs digital tape and computer memory and trans mission type media such as digital and analog communica tion links using TDM or IP based communication links e g packet links 0118 While particular aspects of the present subject mat ter described herein have been shown and described it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that based upon the teach ings herein changes and modifications may be made without departing from this subject matter described herein and its broader aspects and therefore the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifica tions as are within the true spirit and scope of this subject matter described herein Furthermore it is to be understood that the invention is solely defined by the appended claims It will be understood by those within the art that in general terms used herein and especially in the appended claims e g bodies of the appended claims are generally intended as open terms e g the term including should be inter preted as including but not
65. struc tion to activate the assistance manager Further a detection and recognition of a signal responsive to spoken words shut ter button may be received by the assistance manager has a selection corresponding to an aspect of the digital camera 310 0083 The assistance manager includes operability to pro vide assistance such as information advice guidance and instructions through at least one the plurality of interfaces 320 of the digital camera 310 such as the display 332 the tangible buttons 344A 344E and the speaker 338 In embodiment the provided assistance may include any type of presentation such as a visual presentation an audio presen tation a spoken presentation a tactile presentation and a combination of two or more of the foregoing presentation modes In another embodiment the assistance file includes operability to provide interactive assistance with additional user inputs being received through the camera user interfaces 320 0084 An alternative embodiment implements the query operation 220 in two parts as described in conjunction with FIG 4 Activation of the assistance manager transitions the user interfaces 320 to a first state A detected subsequent user touch to another user interface of the plurality of user inter faces 320 may be received by the assistance manager as a received aspect selection operation 250 as described in con junction with FIG 4 On receiving the selection 250 the ass
66. t user interface associated with the electronic device sensing a context of the electronic device with the con text sensor and providing an assistance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface asso ciated with the electronic device 42 58 canceled 59 method comprising receiving a selection corresponding to an aspect of an electronic device through a first user interface of the electronic device receiving a selection corresponding to an assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device through a second user interface of the electronic device sensing an environmental context of the electronic device and providing an assistance correlating to the assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device and the environmental context through a third user interface of the electronic device 60 79 canceled US 2013 0238991 Al Sep 12 2013 15 80 A system comprising an electronic device having a context sensor a first user interface a second user interface and third user inter face and instructions which when implemented in the electronic device cause the electronic device to receive a selection corresponding to an aspect of the electronic device through a first user interface of the electronic device receive a selection corresponding to an assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device through a second user interface of th
67. t user interface may be included within a physical structure of a button or the first user interface may he adjacent or proximate to the button The association of a button or component and the first user inter face may include a logical association By a way of further example an association may include a touch sensitive portion of a visual display surface When the visual display surface displays an image or icon visually associated with an aspect ofan electronic device a touch to the displayed image or icon or a portion of the visual display surface proximate to the displayed image or icon may be detected and received as a selection through an interface logically associated with the electronic device or an interface logically associated with an aspect of the electronic device 0073 In another embodiment the selection may be received by detecting a sound or word For example the first user interface may include a microphone and processing capability to detect a sound or spoken word corresponding to a selection related to the electronic device or to an aspect of the electronic device For example detecting a signal corre sponding to the spoken words lens cover selects a lens cover of a digital camera and is received as selection related to the electronic device or to the lens cover of the electronic device 0074 At assistance selection operation 260 a selection corresponding an assistance request is received In an embo
68. the user interfaces 320 of the digital camera For example the assistance may include pro viding in the display 332 a demonstrative visual presentation of the functions and capability of the shutter button 344E The assistance may further include flashing the light emitter not shown associated with the shutter button 344E as appropriate to indicate when the shutter button should be pressed The assistance may also provide a voice track through the speaker 338 the voice track may be coordinated with the visual pre sentation in the display 332 and flashing the light emitter associated with the shutter button 344E 0090 FIG 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation 400 that receives an assistance presentation After a start operation the operation moves to an input operation 410 At the input operation 410 a query related to an aspect of an electronic device is inputted through a first interface of the electronic device The query may typically be inputted by a human user At wait operation 430 the inputter waits while an assistance file is searched for an assistance response correlat ing to the input Operation 410 At receive assistance operation 440 a presentation of the assistance response correlating to the query is received through a third interface of the electronic device 0091 Atleast one of the first and second interfaces may be user interfaces and the first and second interfaces may be at least substantially sim
69. through a second user interface of the electronic device The operations also include receive a context of the electronic device from the context sensor and provide an assistance correlating to the assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device and to the context of the electronic device through a third user interface of the electronic device 0020 The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state and the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in asecond state The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state the second user inter face may include the element of the electronic device in a second state and the third user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a third state One of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first state and another of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second state The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first mode and the second user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second mode The first user interface may include an element of the electronic device in a first mode the second user interface may incl
70. tionally rapid advances have been made in interconnectability and interop erability of computing devices and other devices such as handheld devices and cell phones These advances are intended to provide a user with many benefits However realization of these benefits may require that a user read and re read manuals 0039 When new a user may or many not take the trouble to read a manual Manuals are sometimes considered too complex and troublesome to comprehend As a result the advances may be unused and the user dissatisfied A user may benefit from being able to input a selection of an aspect of a computer relevant to a need or question through a user inter face associated with the aspect and then let the computer guide them from there using the same or another user inter face of the computer 0040 Additionally manuals are sometimes lost mis placed or unavailable such as for example when traveling A user may further benefit by being able to obtain assistance directly from the computer of a nature often provided by a comprehensive user manual 0041 Further as a result of rapidly advancing computer technology computing devices are become smaller more powerful and cheaper The advancing computing technology is moving beyond the personal computer and into everyday items and devices providing embedded technology and con nectivity Almost any thing or item from buildings to cloth ing from telephones to tools from appli
71. uch sensitive panel arranged for directly receiving input but may alternatively or in addition respond to another input device such as the microphone 34 For example spoken words may be received at the micro phone 34 and recognized Alternatively the computing device 20 may be designed to include a user interface having a physical keyboard not shown 0048 The device functional elements not shown are typically application specific and related to a function of the electronic device The device functional elements are driven by a device functional element s interface 50 which coupled with the system bus 23 A functional element may typically perform a single well defined task with little or no user con figuration or setup such as a refrigerator keeping food cold a cell phone connecting with an appropriate tower and trans ceiving voice or data information and a camera capturing and saving an image 0049 FIG 2 illustrates another exemplary system in which embodiments of may be implemented FIG 2 illus trates an electronic device that may correspond in whole or part to a general purpose computing device shown as acom puter 100 Components of the computer 100 may include but are not limited to a processing unit 120 a system memory 130 and a system bus 121 that couples various system com ponents including the system memory to the processing unit 120 The system bus 121 may be any of several types of bus structures including a m
72. ude recommending a fast shutter speed The provided assistance may include a recommendation to protect the camera lens from fogging in the cold environment The second user interface may include any user interface associated with the electronic device and may include a combination of two or more user interfaces For example in an embodiment the second user interface includes a visual display The visual display may include a visual display surface such an liquid crystal display and or may include a light emitter such as small light emitting diode incorporated in a physical button 0108 Ina further embodiment the query receive opera tion 510 may include receiving a query related to an elec tronic device and a sensed context of the electronic device A context sensor may include a program operable to recognize certain extrinsic environments from images acquired through a lens of the digital camera 310 The assistance manage may receive an user query requesting assistance w taking a portrait in a context of this background and receive an image of this background resulting from the user capturing an image of this background through the lens of the digital camera 310 At the context operation 515 a recognition aspect of the assistance manager determines the context of this back ground from the user captured image For example if the recognition aspect of the assistance manager determines includes a mountain backgrou
73. ude the element of the electronic device in a second mode and the third user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a third mode One of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface include an element of the electronic device ina first mode and another of the first user interface the second user interface and the third user interface may include the element of the electronic device in a second mode The first user interface of the elec tronic device may include a first user interface of the elec tronic device associated with the aspect of the electronic device 0021 The electronic device may include a pervasive com puting device The electronic device may include a limited resource computing device The instructions may further include an operation to search an assistance file for the assis tance correlating to the assistance request The instructions may further operations that receive an input responsive to the provided assistance and provide another assistance corre sponding to the received input responsive to the provided assistance 0022 An embodiment provides an apparatus The appara tus includes a means for receiving a selection corresponding to an aspect of an electronic device and a means for receiving a selection corresponding to an assistance request related to the aspect of the electronic device The apparatus also includes a means for sensing a context of the
74. ve the same functionality is effectively asso ciated such that the desired functionality is achieved Hence any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as associated with each other such that the desired functionality is achieved irrespective of architectures or intermedial components Likewise any two components so associated can also be viewed as being ably connected or operably coupled to each other to achieve the desired functionality and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being operably countable to each other to achieve the desired functionality Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and or physically interacting components and or wirelessly inter actable and or wirelessly interacting components 1 A method comprising receiving a query related to an electronic device through a first user interface associated with the electronic device sensing a context of the electronic device and providing an assistance correlating to the query and the sensed context through a second user interface associ ated with the electronic device 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the first user interface includes an element of the electronic device in first state and the second user interface includes the element of the elec tronic device in a second state 3 The method of cl
75. y associated with dem onstrate a user touch detected at an interface associated with button 344A is received as a selection corresponding to an assistance request for a demonstration of the shutter button 0087 Inanalternative embodiment voice commands be used to implement part or all of the operation 200 that provides assistance Selections and inputs may be received from signals responsive to sounds and words detected by the microphone 334 and recognized For example the activation of the assistance manager program the selection correspond ing to an aspect of the digital camera 310 and the assistance request may occur in response to a received sound spoken word and or a spoken phrase For example a user may say assistance manager to activate the assistance manager say shutter button as a selection corresponding to an aspect of the digital camera and say demonstration as a selection corresponding to an assistance request 0088 The assistance manager searches the assistance file saved in the system memory of the thin computing device included in the digital camera 310 for an assistance correlat ing with the user selected query for a demonstration of the US 2013 0238991 Al shutter button An assistance is provided corresponding to the query through at least one interface of the plurality of inter faces 320 0089 The digital camera 310 provides assistance correlat ing to the user query through
76. y finding appropriate aspects of the device related to a portion of the user manual may be difficult or impossible Like a computer user a pervasive computing device user may benefit from interactive assis tance 0043 Rapidly advancing technology may also provide an opportunity for increased interaction between traditionally dumb items and user manuals Many dumb items have become more complex and sophisticated to meet user demand For example simply adjusting an ergonomic chair requires complex instructions and location of knobs placed at odd locations User manuals have correspondingly become more complex and sometimes confusing As a result simply finding appropriate aspects of the item related to a portion of the user manual may be difficult or impossible A user may benefit from interactive assistance with these traditionally dumb items 0044 FIG 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief general description of an environment in which embodiments may be implemented FIG 1 illustrates anexemplary system that includes a thin computing device 20 that interfaces with an electronic device that includes one or more functional elements For example the electronic device may include any item having electrical and or electronic com ponents playing a role in a functionality of the item such as limited resource computing device a digital camera a cell phone a printer a refrigerator a car and an airplane The t

Enhanced Contextual User Assistance

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents