The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 03, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 13, 2001
Catherine Rose Morrow, Seattle, WA (US);
Glenn L. Frankel, Seattle, WA (US);
Christopher C. White, Seattle, WA (US);
Zeke Koch, Seattle, WA (US);
Richard M. Banks, Kirkland, WA (US);
Tjeerd Hoek, Kirkland, WA (US);
Aaron H. Weiss, Tucson, AZ (US);
Catherine Rose Morrow, Seattle, WA (US);
Glenn L. Frankel, Seattle, WA (US);
Christopher C. White, Seattle, WA (US);
Zeke Koch, Seattle, WA (US);
Richard M. Banks, Kirkland, WA (US);
Tjeerd Hoek, Kirkland, WA (US);
Aaron H. Weiss, Tucson, AZ (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
An answer wizard drop-down menu for providing users quick and efficient access to help utilities, including help files and wizards provided by a software application, is provided. An answer wizard drop-down edit control and interface is located in a conspicuous, but non-obstructive location on a software application graphical interface. An edit control allows a user to enter a question regarding some desired functionality of the application. In response to the user's question, the user is presented with a list of potential answers to the question in a drop-down menu. If the user finds an acceptable answer to her question in the list of potential answers, the user selects the acceptable answer, and an appropriate help file application is launched to provide the user assistance with the functionality about which the user has questions. Each question so asked by the user is saved in a list of most recently used items. The next time the user needs assistance, the user may open the list of most recently used items to obtain a list of the most recent questions previously asked by the user. The user may then, if desired, select one of the previously asked questions and initiate another search on the selected question to obtain the list of potential answers. The user may then select a new or previously viewed answer to return to the help file application.