JP5657587B2 - Scenario analysis apparatus and scenario analysis program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for assisting user interface design.

  When a designer designs a user interface of a system, there is a method of describing how a user of the system uses the user interface as a story (scenario) and analyzing the scenario (Non-patent Document 1). . When designing the user interface, what functions should be displayed in large size, what function should be called immediately, and how the user uses the functions. It is pointed out that it is important to consider “relevance of functions”. If these are not taken into consideration, the user interface is not easy to use and does not match the user's usage.

  On the other hand, there is a method for designing a user interface by describing the operation of a system using UML (Unified Modeling Language) and automatically analyzing it (Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-140893 A

Koji Yanagida, et al., “Structured Scenario-Based Design Method”, HCII 2009, p.374-380

  With the technology of Patent Document 1, it is possible to automatically realize a user interface, but when the designer adjusts the user interface, correct analysis is difficult without expert knowledge for reading a formal language called UML. is there. In addition, UML can only describe how the system works, not how the user uses it. That is, it is not suitable for analyzing the priority and relevance of functions. Further, with the technology of Non-Patent Document 1, it is difficult to read the priority and relevance of functions from a scenario.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to obtain information necessary for designing a user interface from a scenario.

  A scenario analysis apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is a scenario analysis apparatus for analyzing a hierarchical scenario in which user usage examples are described, and an input for inputting the scenario and a set of functions associated with the scenario Means, priority analysis means for determining the priority of the function based on the appearance hierarchy and appearance frequency of the function in the scenario, and a distance between positions where two functions are associated with each other in the scenario. Relevance analysis means for obtaining the relevance between the two functions, and output means for outputting the priority and relevance for each function.

  In the scenario analyzer, the display priority and the degree of association are set so that the function having a high priority and a lot of relations with other functions increases the display priority, and the functions having a high degree of association increase the degree of association. Display estimation means for determining the display priority, and the output means further outputs the display priority and the incidental degree.

  In the scenario analysis apparatus, a weight is set at an arbitrary location in the scenario, and the priority analysis unit and the relevance analysis unit obtain the priority and the relevance by taking the weight into account. It is characterized by.

  In the scenario analysis apparatus, a plurality of scenarios each having a weight set are input, and the priority analysis unit and the relevance analysis unit are configured for each scenario with respect to the priority and the relevance obtained in each scenario. The priority and the relevance are derived by taking the weight of

  The scenario analysis apparatus may further include an adjusting unit that adjusts the priority and the association degree obtained by the priority analysis unit and the association degree analysis unit.

  A scenario analysis program according to a second aspect of the present invention causes a computer to function as each means constituting the scenario analysis apparatus.

  According to the present invention, information necessary for user interface design can be obtained from a scenario.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the scenario analyzer in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the function linked | related with the scenario and the scenario hierarchized. It is a figure which shows the example which expressed said scenario hold | maintaining hierarchical structure by XML. It is a figure which shows the example which expressed said scenario by the tree structure. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process which calculates a priority. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process which calculates relevance. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process which outputs a priority and a relevance degree. An output example in which priority and relevance are output in XML format is shown. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the scenario analyzer in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a display method process. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process which adjusts the priority and relevance of a function.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the scenario analysis apparatus according to the first embodiment. A scenario analysis apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an analysis unit 2, an output unit 3, and an information holding unit 4. Each unit included in the scenario analysis device 1 may be configured by a computer including an arithmetic processing device, a storage device, and the like, and the processing of each unit may be executed by a program. This program is stored in a storage device included in the scenario analysis apparatus 1, and can be recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or a semiconductor memory, or provided through a network. Hereinafter, each part will be described.

  The analysis unit 2 has a priority analysis unit 21 and a relevance analysis unit 22, and inputs a set of hierarchically detailed scenarios and functions linked to the scenarios, and the system described in the scenarios. Analyze the priority of the function indicating whether it is the main function and the relevance of the function indicating how the functions are used in combination.

  The priority analysis unit 21 estimates the priority of the function based on the appearance hierarchy and the appearance frequency of the function and stores it in the information holding unit 4. First, in a scenario, it is determined that a function extracted at a higher hierarchy has a higher function priority. Secondly, in the scenario, when the same function appears in a plurality of places, it is determined that the function with the higher appearance frequency has higher priority.

  The degree-of-association analysis unit 22 estimates the degree of association between two functions based on the distance between the positions where the two functions are linked in the scenario, and stores them in the information holding unit 4. It is determined that the function closer to the sentence in the scenario is more relevant. When the same function is present at a plurality of locations, the relevance level of the function at each location is calculated and combined to estimate the final relevance level of the function.

  The output unit 3 reads the input scenario, a set of functions, and the priority and relevance analyzed by the analysis unit 2 from the information holding unit 4 and displays the priority and relevance in a predetermined format for each function. Output to.

  The information holding unit 4 stores the input scenario, function set, and priority and relevance analyzed by the analysis unit 2.

  Next, a scenario analyzed by the scenario analysis device 1 in the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of hierarchized scenarios and functions analyzed by the scenario analysis apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. This scenario and function are described in advance by the designer. The scenario describes a user's usage example such as what scene, what flow, and how to use it. In FIG. 2, countdown and countup scenes are described. For the countdown scene, the usage method is described along the flow from starting to setting, using, and ending the presentation timer. Details of the count-up scene are omitted. Further, in the scenario of FIG. 2, the function name is described with an underscore in the parenthesis at the end of the sentence to which the function is linked.

  FIG. 3 shows an example in which the scenario of FIG. 2 is expressed in XML with a hierarchical structure maintained. The scenario analysis device 1 inputs and analyzes an XML format scenario as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 3, the hierarchical structure of the scenario is maintained by nesting section tags. Specifically, the sections for starting, setting, using, and ending the presentation timer are described in a countdown section tag. The main text of the scenario is described in a scenario tag. Also, in the sentence extracted as a function, the corresponding part in the text is surrounded by a function tag, and the name of the function (function name) is described by the name in the function tag.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the scenario of FIG. 2 is expressed in a tree structure. In FIG. 4, root is a vertex (first hierarchy), and sections are expressed hierarchically. The section on the left side of the second hierarchy in FIG. 4 corresponds to a countdown scene. Below the countdown scene, there are three sections in the third hierarchy. Each node under each section corresponds to one sentence in the scenario, and the node of the sentence to which the function is linked is represented by ●. It is possible to weight the root and section of this tree and use the weight for priority analysis and relevance analysis. In FIG. 4, weight = 2 is set to the leftmost section of the third hierarchy. In the XML of FIG. 3, the weight is set with weight = 2 in the scenario tag.

  Next, processing of the scenario analysis apparatus 1 in the present embodiment will be described.

  First, processing for calculating priority will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing for calculating the priority.

  First, a set of scenarios and functions is read (step S11). As shown in FIG. 3, when a function is described in the scenario, the function is extracted from the read scenario.

  Then, one function to be analyzed is selected (step S12), and the priority of the selected function is calculated (step S13). The calculation of priority will be described later.

  The obtained priority is stored in the information holding unit 4 (step S14). If there is an unanalyzed function (YES in step S15), the process returns to step S12 to process the next function.

  Here, calculation of priority will be described.

  In the calculation of the priority, the priority is obtained by combining two types of parameters of the function appearance hierarchy and the appearance position. First, in a scenario, it is determined that a function extracted at a higher hierarchy has a higher function priority. Secondly, in the scenario, when the same function appears in a plurality of places, it is determined that the function with the higher appearance frequency has higher priority.

  For example, the extracted hierarchy is defined as Layer (1 ≦ Layer), the number of extractions is defined as Time (1 ≦ Time), and the priority Priority is obtained by the following equation.

Priority = k1 * (1 / Layer) + k2 * Time
(Coefficients k1, k2 ∈ real number)
When weights are set for the parent node and the route, the coefficients k1 and k2 are adjusted.

  Further, when there are a plurality of scenarios, the priority of the function is obtained in each scenario, and the priority is derived by taking an average by adding a weight to the priority obtained in each scenario.

  Next, processing for calculating the relevance will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for calculating the degree of association.

  First, a set of scenarios and functions is read (step S21).

  Then, one analysis target function is selected (step S22), one comparison target function is selected (step S23), and the degree of association between the two selected functions is calculated (step S24). The calculation of the relevance will be described later.

  If the obtained degree of relevance is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the degree of relevance is stored in the information holding unit 4 (step S25).

  If there is an uncompared function (YES in step S26), the process returns to step S23 to select the next function to be compared. If there is no uncompared function (NO in step S26) and there is an unanalyzed function (YES in step S27), the process returns to step S22 to process the next function.

  Here, the calculation of the relevance will be described.

  In the calculation of the relevance level, it is determined that the relevance level is higher as the function is closer to the sentence in the scenario. In addition, when the same function exists in a plurality of places, the degree of relevance at each place is calculated, and the final degree of relation is obtained by combining them.

  For example, consider a case where two functions function_A and function_B are compared. The sentences in the same section are divided by the punctuation points, the position where the sentences are counted from the head is defined as position, and the hierarchy up to the sentence from which the function is extracted is defined as layer.

  The degree of association in_relation_AB when two functions belong to the same section is obtained by the following equation.

in_relation_AB = k3 * function_A.layer + k4 * 1 / | function_A.position-function_B.position |
(Coefficients k3, k4 ∈ real number)
The degree of association out_relation_AB when the two functions belong to different sections is obtained by the following equation.

out_relation_AB = k5 * 1 / (function_A.layer + function_B.layer)
(Coefficient k5 ∈ real number)
When weights are set for the parent node and the route, the coefficients k3, k4, and k5 are adjusted.

  When the same function is present at a plurality of locations in the scenario, the final degree of association of the function is derived by taking an average or the like.

  Further, when there are a plurality of scenarios, the relevance level of the function is obtained in each scenario, and the relevance level is derived by taking an average by adding a weight to the relevance level obtained in each scenario.

  Next, processing for outputting the obtained priority and relevance will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for outputting the priority and the relevance.

  First, the function information is read from the information holding unit 4 (step S31).

  One function to be output is selected (step S32), the priority of the selected function is output (step S33), and the function related to the selected function is output together with the degree of association (step S34).

  If there is an unoutput function (YES in step S35), the process returns to step S32 to process the next function.

  FIG. 8 shows an output example in which the priority and the relevance are output in the XML format. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the function is selected and output for each scene. The function name is described by the name in the function tag, and the priority and relevance of the function are described in the function tag. The priority is described by surrounding it with a priority tag, and regarding the degree of association, the related function name is enclosed by the relation tag, and the degree of association is described by value in the relation tag. Note that the format is not limited to the XML format as long as similar information can be held for the priority and the relevance.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the hierarchical scenario and the function associated with the scenario are input, and the priority analysis unit 21 functions by combining the appearance hierarchy and the appearance frequency of the function in the scenario. User interface design using a scenario that can be understood without specialist knowledge by obtaining the priority of the function, and obtaining the degree of association of the function based on the distance of the appearance position between the functions in the relevance analysis unit 22 or the scenario. It is possible to quickly acquire information necessary for As a result, the user interface can be repeatedly studied in a short time.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of the scenario analysis apparatus according to the second embodiment. The scenario analysis apparatus 1 shown in the figure further includes a display method estimation unit 23 and an adjustment interface 5. Hereinafter, the display method estimation unit 23 and the adjustment interface 5 will be described.

  The display method estimation unit 23 uses the priority and relevance of the functions to display the functions with high priority as much as possible, or displays them so that the number of steps to be called is reduced. The display priority and the incidental degree are calculated so as to be displayed. When there is a restriction such as a screen size, it is determined what functions should be prioritized based on the priority and what functions should be at least based on the relevance.

  For example, in the scenario shown in FIG. 2, when the time display function is taken as an example, the time display function has the highest priority, so it is determined that it should be displayed with priority. Further, it is determined from the relevance level that a time designation function, a bell function, etc. should be attached. Conversely, it is determined that the pause function and the reset function do not necessarily have priority.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process flow of the display method estimation unit 23.

  First, a list of functions to be processed is read from the information holding unit 4 (step S41).

  One function to be processed is selected (step S42), the priority and relevance of the selected function are read from the information holding unit 4 (step S43), and the display method is estimated (step S44). The estimation of the display method will be described later.

  If there is a function that has not been processed (YES in step S45), the process returns to step S42 to process the next function.

  Here, the estimation of the display method will be described.

  In the estimation of the display method, the display priority and the incidental degree are calculated so that a function having a high priority and a lot of relations with other functions has a high display priority, and functions having a high relation are displayed together.

  For example, the display priority display_priority of the function is obtained by the following equation, where the priority of the function is priority and the relevance of the function is relation_i.

display_priority = k6 * priority + k7 * Σ [i = 1..n] relation_i
(Coefficients k6, k7 ∈ real number)
Also, the degree of function link_priority of a function is obtained by the following equation using the degree of association between functions and the priority of the accompanying function.

link_priority = k8 * relation + k9 * priority
(Coefficients k8, k9 ∈ real number)
It is assumed that the function is associated with a function having a high priority, and is associated with the function if link_priority is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

  The display priority and the incidental degree obtained by the above calculation are transmitted to the output unit 3. Alternatively, the information is stored in the information holding unit 4.

  The output unit 3 outputs function information in order from the function with the highest display priority, and further outputs information on the function associated with the function in descending order of the degree of attachment.

  The adjustment interface 5 provides an interface for adjusting the priority and relevance of the functions held by the information holding unit 4. When the analysis result of the analysis unit 2 is different from the intention of the designer, the priority and relevance of the function held by the information holding unit 4 can be corrected using the adjustment interface 5.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing for adjusting the priority and relevance of functions using the adjustment interface 5.

  First, the designer selects one function to be adjusted (step S51).

  The adjustment interface 5 reads information on the selected function from the information holding unit 4 (step S52).

  The designer adjusts the read priority and relevance (step S53).

  When the adjustment of the priority and the relevance is completed, the adjustment interface 5 updates the information in the information holding unit 4 (step S54).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the display method estimation unit 23 should display the display priority indicating the degree to be preferentially displayed using the function priority and the relevance. By calculating the degree of association indicating the degree, information useful for designing the user interface can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Scenario analyzer 2 ... Analysis part 21 ... Priority analysis part 22 ... Relevance analysis part 23 ... Display method estimation part 3 ... Output part 4 ... Information holding part 5 ... Adjustment interface

Claims (6)

A scenario analysis device for analyzing a hierarchical scenario in which user usage examples are described,
Input means for inputting the scenario and a set of functions associated with the scenario;
Priority analysis means for obtaining the priority of the function based on the appearance hierarchy and appearance frequency of the function in the scenario;
Relevance analysis means for obtaining a relevance between the two functions based on a distance between positions where the two functions are associated with each other in the scenario;
Output means for outputting the priority and the relevance for each function;
A scenario analysis device characterized by comprising: Display estimation means for obtaining a display priority and an accompanying degree so as to increase a display priority for a function having a high priority and a lot of relations with other functions, and increasing an accompanying degree between the functions having a high degree of association. Have
The scenario analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit further outputs the display priority and the incidental degree. In the scenario, weights are set at arbitrary points,
The scenario analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the priority analysis unit and the association degree analysis unit obtain the priority and the association degree in consideration of the weight. Enter multiple scenarios, each with a weight,
The priority analysis unit and the relevance analysis unit derive the priority and the relevance by adding a weight for each scenario to the priority and relevance obtained in each scenario. The scenario analysis apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   5. The scenario analysis apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an adjusting unit that adjusts the priority and the relevance obtained by the priority analysis unit and the relevance analysis unit.   The scenario analysis program for functioning a computer as each means which comprises the scenario analysis apparatus in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5.

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