Dynamic interface synthesizer

A method of creating a user interface for an application program running on a computer system having devices available for communicating with a user, comprising the computer-executed steps of:

• retrieving an interaction model of interaction requirements for general situational components of the application program, the interaction model including:
• a top level user interface object;
• an intermediate level abstract object representing an abstract user interaction type selected from the group consisting of tasks, subtasks, components, and primitives, wherein the intermediate level abstract object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object;
• and
• an instantiable object representative of a user interface element, wherein the instantiable object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object or from the intermediate level abstract object;
• creating an interaction space representative of current interaction requirements of the application program using the interaction model;
• dynamically creating a user interface for the application program based on the interaction space and available user interaction devices;
• and
• modifying the interaction space in response to changes in the application program.

A method of creating an interaction space having components representative of user interaction needs with an application program, comprising the computerized steps of:

• perceiving an interaction need;
• entering an interaction class model at a point dependent on the perceived interaction need, the interaction class model including:
• a top level user interface object;
• an intermediate level abstract object representing an abstract user interaction type selected from the group consisting of tasks, subtasks, components, and primitives, wherein the intermediate level abstract object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object;
• and
• an instantiable node representative of user interface elements, wherein the instantiable node inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object or from the intermediate level abstract object;
• specializing the class model to arrive at the instantiable node in the interaction class model;
• adding the instantiable node to the interaction space;
• and
• modifying the interaction space dynamically in response to changes in the application program.

A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor execute a process comprising:

• inheriting capabilities from a top level user interface object to an intermediate level abstract object representing an abstract user interaction type, wherein the top level abstract user interface object has a create operation, and wherein the intermediate level abstract object comprises an object selected from the group consisting of tasks, subtasks, components, and primitives;
• inheriting capabilities from the top level object or intermediate level object to an instantiable object representative of a user interface element;
• automatically dynamically generating the user interaction representation for a current state of an application;
• and
• modifying the user interaction representation in response to changes in the application.

A machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a suitably programmed computer to perform the computerized steps comprising:

• retrieving an interaction model of interaction requirements for general situational components of the application program, the interaction model including:
• a top level user interface object;
• an intermediate level abstract object representing an abstract user interaction type selected from the group consisting of tasks, subtasks, components, and primitives, wherein the intermediate level abstract object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object;
• and
• an instantiable object representative of a user interface element, wherein the instantiable object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object or from the intermediate level abstract object;
• constructing a representation of current interaction requirements of the application program using the interaction model;
• creating an interaction space from the representation, from one or more abstract compositional constraints, and from one or more selected properties of the application program;
• dynamically creating a user interface for the application program based on the interaction space and available devices;
• and
• modifying the interaction space in response to changes in the application program.

A machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a suitably programmed computer to perform the steps comprising:

• perceiving a change in an object in an application having an interaction need;
• entering an interaction class model at a point dependent on the perceived interaction need, the interaction class model including:
• a top level user interface object;
• an intermediate level abstract object representing an abstract user interaction type selected from the group consisting of tasks, subtasks, components, and primitives, wherein the intermediate level abstract object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object;
• and
• an instantiable object representative of user interface elements, wherein the instantiable object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object or from the intermediate level abstract object;
• specializing the class model to arrive at the instantiable object in the interaction class model;
• and
• adding the instantiable object to the interaction space.

A computer system comprising:

• an application comprised of multiple objects, including to level objects for interacting with users;
• an interaction class model including:
• an intermediate level abstract object representing an abstract user interaction type selected from the group consisting of tasks, subtasks, components, and primitives, wherein the intermediate level abstract object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object;
• and
• an instantiable class model object representative of a user interface element, wherein the instantiable object inherits capabilities from the to level user interface object or from the intermediate level abstract object;
• and
• an interaction facilitator coupled to the application and to the interaction class model for creating an interaction space comprised of the instantiated class model objects responsive to currently active application objects and for modifying the interaction space dynamically in response to changes in the application objects.