Abstract:
A method and apparatus used for evaluating usability of displayed material having a plurality of portions by displaying a set of the plurality of portions in an unintelligible format; making intelligible each of the set of the plurality of portions as each is indicated by actions of a user; determining the sequence of the indicated portions; and recording a selection of a subset of the set of the plurality of portions and the determined sequence.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to improving the usability of systems for users. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     One of the problems in developing software applications is to design the graphical user interface in a manner that places items in locations that the user will anticipate. A user will subconsciously utilize visual clues on the screen to anticipate where an item that they want will be located. Normally such an item is a visual button which when actuated will perform some action. Determination of what the graphical user interface should look like is referred to as usability tests. Usability tests are experiments to learn how sample users actually use the user interface. A key element of the learning experience is understanding where a user looks on the screen in response to a need. Since by putting items where a user expects to find them, the usability of the software can be improved. The problem is that monitoring a user&#39;s eye movement is expensive or slow. Several techniques exist for monitoring or simulating the monitoring the eye movement of users. The first technique is to monitor software usage by analyzing records of actions the user took to draw some conclusion about how the user wants to use the software. A second technique is to automatically monitor the eyeball movements; however, this requires elaborate equipment to be utilized. Further, the equipment is expensive and is not comfortable for a user to utilize. A third technique is to manually monitor the eyeball&#39;s movement by taking video pictures of a user as they are utilizing the graphical user interface and at a later point of time by slowing the motion of the video, determining where the eyes were focused. A fourth technique is to conduct interviews with users to determine where the user had looked during the utilization of the graphical user interface. However, the eye movements may be so subconscious that the user may not realize the actual movement of their own eyes or at least not remember it. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A method and apparatus used for evaluating usability of displayed material having a plurality of portions by displaying a set of the plurality of portions in an unintelligible format; making intelligible each of the set of the plurality of portions as each is indicated by actions of a user; determining the sequence of the indicated portions; and recording a selection of a subset of the set of the plurality of portions and the determined sequence. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIGS. 1-4  illustrate displays of one embodiment of the invention; 
         FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate, in flowchart form, operations performed by one embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 7  illustrates, in block diagram form, one embodiment of a computer for implementing the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a software application that assists a user in determining the rules that a telecommunication switching system will follow in processing calls. Back button  101  and Next button  102  are shown as being placed in a particular position.  FIGS. 2-4  illustrate testing embodiments to determine where buttons  101  and  102  should be placed. The cursor that is controlled by the user via a mouse or other input means is cursor  103 . The usability test of the graphical user interface illustrated in  FIG. 1  is to determine where a user anticipates that Back button  101  and Next button  102  will be located. In one embodiment, this is tested on a group of users by blanking out certain areas of the graphical user interface of  FIG. 1 . In  FIG. 2 , sections  201 - 214  are sections that have been blanked out. The location of these individual sections may or may not be made visible to the user. Cursor  103  is also illustrated in  FIG. 2 . This embodiment functions by recording the movements of cursor  103  to the various sections before the user finds buttons  101  or  102 . As the cursor is positioned over a section, what is underneath the section is displayed to the user as illustrated in  FIG. 3  where cursor  103  is positioned in section  213 . When the user finally positions cursor  103  in a section and selects that selection by actuation of a key on the keyboard, a button on a mouse, or any other selection means, the system records this as the button or area for which the user was searching. The selection of a button or area is used to determine for which function the user has been searching during the prior movements of the cursor. 
     The other areas into which the cursor was positioned are also recorded and these indicate, after a statistical analysis, where a group of users have anticipated the Back button  101  or the Next button  102  to be located. For example, if the user consistently positions the cursor first in section  201  of  FIG. 2  while they were looking for the Next button  102 , this would indicate that Next button  102  should be located in section  201 . 
     In one embodiment, after a section has been entered by cursor  103 , the section remains revealed. For example, in  FIG. 3  if the user positioned cursor  103  in section  213  but was actually looking for Next button  102 , the Back button  101  would continue to be displayed in  FIG. 3  even when cursor  103  was moved to section  212 . In another embodiment, once the cursor is moved out of a section, such as section  213 , the section once again becomes blank. In yet another embodiment, once the cursor  103  is moved out of section  213 , section  213  will continue to display the Back button  101  for a predetermined period of time and then section  213  will become blank. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates another embodiment where icons  401 - 408  are blurred and the user can only tell that indeed there is an object located at that position. (Until I redo this figure, the reader will have to use their imagination.) When cursor  103  is positioned over an image such as icon  401 , icon  401  becomes visible such that the user can determine what it is. In one embodiment, as soon as the user repositions cursor  103  to another location on the graphical user interface illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the previous image will again be indiscernible by the user. In yet another embodiment, the image will remain visible once made visible by the positioning of cursor  103 . In yet another embodiment, the image will only remain visible for a predefined amount of time once cursor  103  is no longer positioned over it. 
       FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate the operations performed by one embodiment of the invention.  FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate operations that allow the usability testing of a number of users using a number of display screens also referred to as pages. After being started in block  500 , block  501  selects and displays the first page of the pages that will be tested for usability by the users. After display of the first page, decision block  502  determines if the user has moved the cursor to another portion of the display screen. If the answer is no, block  503  performs normal processing before returning control back to decision block  502 . If the answer in decision block  502  is yes, decision block  504  determines if the user has moved the cursor over a portion of the screen that has been rendered unintelligible. Note, that the pages are displayed initially with all unintelligible portions being shown. If the answer is no in decision block  504 , control is transferred back to decision block  502 . 
     If the answer is yes in decision block  504 , block  506  makes the unintelligible portion intelligible, and block  507  identifies and records the location of the portion that has been highlighted by the cursor before transferring control to decision block  508 . Decision block  508  determines if the user selects the revealed intelligible portion. If the answer is no, control is transferred back to  502 . An answer of no in decision block  508  means that the user did not find the desired control element (eg. “Next”) for this particular page. If the answer is yes in decision block  508 , block  509  records the identity of the selected intelligible portion before transferring control to decision block  601  of  FIG. 6 . Since the user has found the desired control element on the present page, decision block  601  determines if there is another page to be tested. Note, if the user selects “Back”, the previous page will be displayed. If the answer is yes, block  603  selects and displays the next page before returning control back to decision block  502 . If the answer is no in decision block  601 , decision block  602  determines if the testing is to be performed on another user. If the answer is yes, control is returned back to block  501  of  FIG. 5 . If the answer is no in decision block  602 , block  604  statistically analyzes the best location of the selected portions for all pages using the input of all users. After execution of block  604 , block  604  ends the operations illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6 . The statistical analysis can be any method well known to those skilled in the art. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates, in block diagram form, a computer for implementing the operations illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6 . Processor  702  performs control functions by executing programs stored in memory  701 . Operating system  712  performs the overall control functions. Test routine  714  performs the usability testing by use of display  719  which is interconnected to processor  702  by interface  709 . Display driver  718  performs the low level control of display  719  utilizing high level commands received from test routine  714 . Test database  716  stores the test results. In addition, processor  702  utilizes interfaces routine  717  to control other devices interconnected to processor  702 . Processor  702  also stores data in data block  713 . Processor  702  may have mass storage  706  interconnected via interface  704  and a connection to a wide area network via interface  703 . User input device  711  comprises a mouse or other cursor control device for controlling the movement of the cursor in display  719  and for performing the selection function. As is well known in the art, user input device  711  may also have other human interface devices such as a keyboard, etc. 
     When the operations of the IP telephone set, control computer or monitor computer are implemented in software, it should be noted that the software can be stored on any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with any computer related system or method. In the context of this document, a computer-readable medium is an electronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical device or means that can contain or store a computer program for use by or in connection with a computer related system or method. The IP telephone set, control computer, or monitor computer can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In the context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” can be any means that can store the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. For example, the computer-readable medium can be, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection (electronic) having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette (magnetic), a random access memory (RAM) (electronic), a read-only memory (ROM) (electronic), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory) (electronic), and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM) (optical). 
     In an alternative embodiment, where IP telephone set, control computer or monitor computer is implemented in hardware, IP telephone set, control computer or monitor computer can be implemented with any or a combination of the following technologies, which are each well known in the art: a discrete logic circuit(s) having logic gates for implementing logic functions upon data signals, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) having appropriate combinational logic gates, a programmable gate array(s) (PGA), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc. 
     Of course, various changes and modifications to the illustrated embodiments described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art. These changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without diminishing its intending advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the following claims except insofar as limited by the prior art.