JPH08101737A - User interface evaluation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide the user interface evaluation device which gives support so that an evaluation experiment (usability test) for evaluating the usability of an equipment such as an electronic pocketbook, a personal computer, a copying machine, and a facsimile is easily conducted. CONSTITUTION: The user interface evaluation device which supports the evaluation experiment for evaluating the usability of the equipment inputs source data such as design data, target data, and operation data as the bases of recording and sampling-up through an input means 1 and stores them in a storage means 2. Then a generating means 3 accesses the source data stored in the storage means 2 and generates analytic data for a recording sheet, a state- operation transition diagram, and a cumulative graph on the basis of the source data. The generated analytic data are stored in the storage device 2 and then shown to a user by an output means 4 together with the source data that are already stored in the storage means 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic notebook, a personal computer,
The present invention relates to a user interface evaluation device that supports an evaluation experiment (usability test) for evaluating the usability of devices such as a copying machine and a facsimile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, information and communication devices such as electronic notebooks, personal computers, copiers, and facsimiles have become widespread in general offices and homes, and non-specialists who are not specialists in information processing and communication technologies ( Even casual users) have no choice but to use these information communication devices. Moreover, the respective functions installed in these information communication devices are becoming more sophisticated and diversified, and the operations are complicated so that even an expert cannot use them.

Under these circumstances, even non-specialists are increasingly aware that it is necessary to develop a user interface that is easier to understand and use, and an evaluation experiment (usability test) for evaluating usability is conducted. ,
It is becoming popular. For example, when an experimenter (designer) tries to analyze the usability problem by recording and recording the motions and utterances of the subject (user) who actually uses the information communication device by taking a video tape recorder (VTR). , Which is an example.

However, the evaluation experiment relying only on the VTR photographing requires a great deal of time and labor for the experimenter. In particular, in order to record and analyze the motion of the subject, for example, the time of button operation while reproducing the recorded VTR, it takes many times as long as the time required for the actual evaluation experiment. Not a few.

On the other hand, a technique for automatically recording and tabulating the button operation of the subject by using a user interface simulator or a tester, that is, an evaluation device, and reducing the labor of the experimenter in the evaluation experiment. Is being developed. For example, the proposal of the "dialogue evaluation device" described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-241811 is used by monitoring the dialog situation between the dialog device and the user, extracting redundant operations and abnormal operations, and examining the dialog history. This is a proposal to facilitate the evaluation when evaluating the ease.

[0008] In addition, the document "Proceedings of the 8th Human Interface Symposium", pages 287 to 290
Page ”proposes a technique that automatically records the history of button operations by the subject and draws a dialogue structure diagram between the subject and the device. The dialogue structure diagram here is a state transition diagram in which the operation history of the subject is expressed as a chain of button operations (arcs) and device states (nodes). The experimenter sees this state transition diagram. By doing so, it is possible to visually confirm whether the operation of the subject is performed according to the standard state transition route, that is, the “correct” operation sequence expected by the experimenter (designer), and
Error at any point in the standard state transition route
Occurs, it is possible to visually confirm at which point in the standard state transition route the user exited from the error state and returned to.

[0007]

However, when the technique of the evaluation device in such a conventional technique is examined,
In order to effectively use these techniques, the inventor believes that the following matters should be further improved. In other words, (1) In the dialogue structure diagram, the operation history of the subject is expressed centering on the standard state transition route. Therefore, the operation of the subject is the standard state transition route, that is, the experimenter (designer). When you are following along with the “correct” operation sequence that you expect, you can draw a detailed diagram, but once you deviate from the standard state transition route and get lost in the wrong route, ,
It is not possible to express in detail enough what the subject is doing.

(2) Further, the standard state transition route in the dialogue structure diagram must be structured and arranged in advance by the hands of the experimenter. Therefore, the labor is enormous. By utilizing the existing state transition rules that the evaluation target has as internal data and various data regarding the purpose and past history of the evaluation experiment, the standard state transition route can be identified and identified more easily. How to do should be sought.

(3) In an evaluation experiment conducted by a limited number of subjects for a limited time, the data recorded and aggregated must be used in real time, but with the conventional technique, the experiment was completed. The main focus is on the later discovery of problems, and there is no way to take various measures in real time. If the correct state transition route and the incorrect state transition route can be distinguished, it is desirable to take measures such as utilizing the information, detecting errors at any time while conducting evaluation experiments, and feeding back the results to the subject.

[0010] As described above, there are many problems to be improved, and even if the evaluation experiment is carried out, the problems to be discovered may be overlooked, or the problem may be discovered or the effect of the measure may be confirmed. There was a problem of spending a lot of time and effort. For this reason, it is a situation in which appropriate and more frequent evaluation experiments are not widely used.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic notebook,
An object of the present invention is to provide a user interface evaluation device that supports easy evaluation tests (usability tests) for evaluating the usability of devices such as personal computers, copying machines, and facsimiles. Further, another object of the present invention is to
An object of the present invention is to provide a user interface evaluation device capable of dramatically improving the cost performance of this type of evaluation experiment.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the user interface evaluation apparatus according to the present invention comprises an input means (1) for inputting original data which is a basis of recording and tabulation in an evaluation experiment. Storage means (2) for storing the input original data, generation means (3) for generating analysis data based on the original data, and analysis data generated together with the original data stored in the storage means And an output means (4) for presenting to the user to support an evaluation experiment for evaluating the ease of use of the device.

[0013]

In the user interface evaluation apparatus of the present invention, when the input means (1) inputs the original data which is the basis of the recording and the aggregation in the evaluation experiment, the storage means (2) stores the input original data. . The generation means (3) generates analysis data based on the original data. As a result, the output means (4) presents the analysis data generated together with the original data stored in the storage means to the user. This can support evaluation experiments that evaluate the ease of use of the device.

That is, for example, a user who becomes an experimenter,
Original data such as design data, target data, operation data, etc., which is a source of recording and tabulation, is automatically or semi-automatically input and stored in the storage means (2) via the input means (1). To do. Then, the generation means (3) accesses the original data stored in the storage means (2) and generates analysis data such as a recording sheet, a state-operation transition diagram, and a cumulative graph based on the original data. . After storing the generated analysis data in the storage means (2), if necessary,
It is presented to the user by the output means (4) together with the original data previously stored in the storage means (2).

In this way, the user interface evaluation device takes in as much of the original data as the design data, the target data, the operation data, etc. relating to the information and communication equipment to be evaluated, as the "actual button operation sequence" and The analysis data is generated by detecting the difference in the "standard button operation sequence", and the difference is displayed in a display form so that the difference can be compared at a glance. As a result, the cost performance of the evaluation experiment for evaluating the usability of the information communication device can be dramatically improved.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a user interface evaluation apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is an input device unit, 2 is a storage device unit, 3 is an analysis data generation device unit, and 4 is an output device unit. Further, 11 is a design data input unit, 12 is a target data input unit, 121 is an experimenter intention data input unit, 13 is an operation data input unit, 21 is a design data storage unit, 22 is a target data storage unit, and 221 is an experimenter. Intention data storage unit, 23
Is an operation data storage unit, 24 is a recording sheet storage unit, 25 is a state-operation transition diagram storage unit, 26 is a cumulative graph storage unit, 3
Reference numeral 1 is a recording sheet generation unit, 32 is a state-operation transition diagram generation unit, 33 is a cumulative graph generation unit, 41 is a recording sheet output unit, 42 is a state-operation transition diagram output unit, and 43 is a cumulative graph output unit.

First, the general operation of the user interface evaluation apparatus will be described. The experimenter who conducts the user interface evaluation experiment uses the input device unit 1 to design data (e.g., internal state transition model) of the information communication device to be evaluated and target data (experimenter) related to the goal of the evaluation experiment. Intention data, page turning data of electronic manuals by the subject, operation history data of the subject, etc.) and operation data such as button operation by the subject are automatically or semi-automatically input as necessary and recorded in the evaluation experiment. And input it as the original data that is the basis of the aggregation.

Original data composed of design data, target data, and operation data input via the input device unit 1 is stored in the storage unit 2.

The analysis data generating device unit 3 includes a storage device unit 2.
The original data including the design data, the target data, and the operation data stored in is accessed to generate a recording sheet as a form for recording the interactive operation between the information communication device and the subject, and the sheet is stored in the storage unit 2. Furthermore, the recording sheet can be visualized more visually, and the difference between the "actual button operation sequence" of the subject and the "standard button operation sequence" expected by the experimenter (designer) of the subject can be compared at a glance. As described above, the state-operation transition diagram is generated, and the storage device unit 2
To be stored. Also, a cumulative graph that simply represents the operation record of the recording sheet is generated and stored in the storage device unit 2.
Furthermore, the difference between the "actual button operation sequence" and the "standard button operation sequence", that is, the occurrence of an operation error is detected in real time.

As described above, the analysis data such as the recording sheet, the state-operation transition diagram, and the cumulative graph generated based on the original data by the analysis data generation device unit 3 is stored in the storage device unit 2 and is output by the output device. The unit 4 includes a recording sheet, a state-operation transition diagram, stored in the storage unit 2 here,
Analytical data, such as cumulative graphs, are presented to the experimenter visually or audibly along with the raw data. In addition, when the analysis data generation device unit 3 detects the occurrence of an operation error in real time (FIG. 18), a warning message or a warning signal indicating the occurrence of the error is output visually or audibly via the output device unit 4. Tell the test subject.

In FIG. 1, the input device unit 1, the storage device unit 2, the analysis data generating device unit 3, and the output device unit 4 are processing elements of a computer system such as a personal computer (personal computer) and a workstation. Configure. In other words, by electrically monitoring the internal signals of an electronic notebook, personal computer, copier, facsimile, or other information communication device that is the subject of user interface evaluation, and capturing it in a computer system such as a personal computer or workstation, the user interface Build the system so that the evaluation experiment can be processed. That is, here, a hardware configuration that enables automatic or semi-dynamic recording, aggregation, analysis, and display of data by a computer system is utilized to enable processing of a user interface evaluation experiment.

Next, taking a facsimile machine as an example of an information communication device having an interactive user interface and empirically evaluating its usability,
An operation example of an evaluation experiment using the user interface evaluation apparatus of this embodiment will be described. That is, a specific operation example in the case of evaluating the user interface in the facsimile apparatus by the user interface evaluation apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an operation panel of the user interface of the facsimile apparatus to be evaluated, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are states related to the user interface operation of the operation panel of the facsimile apparatus to be evaluated. It is a figure which shows a transition. The facsimile apparatus to be evaluated here has an operation panel surface as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, 5 is a display screen, 6 is a numeric keypad,
7 is a screen operation key for performing (selection, confirmation) operation on the displayed contents, 8 is a screen switching key for switching between the basic screen and the application function screen, 9 is a memory key, 10
Is the start key.

The interactive interface of the operating panel of the facsimile machine shown in FIG. 2 has several operating buttons (6-10) that the subject presses to give instructions to the device.
The display screen 5 is of a type in which the display contents are sequentially switched to convey the message of the device to the subject. Focusing on the display contents of the display screen 5,
The manner in which the display contents of the display screen 5 are sequentially switched by the subject's key operation is shown in the state transition diagrams shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. That is, the behavior of the operation panel in FIG. 2 is schematically shown in this state transition diagram as a state transition in which the state of the display screen changes due to an input operation, and the button operation of the subject and the switching of the display screen alternate. It is the transition image of the state and the operation repeated.

The behavior of the state transition shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is not limited to the interactive interface of the operation panel as shown in FIG. 2, but the contents of the display screen are unique by the button operation of the subject. The behavior of any information communication device of the type determined by can be expressed by the transition image of the state and the operation as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. If not, it cannot be said that the device correctly responds to the operation of the subject. In other words, many information communication devices have explicit internal model data, that is, design data that can be converted into transition images of states and operations as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. It can be accessed from.

The description will be made again with reference to FIG. The experimenter inputs the data of the internal model of the information communication device to be evaluated. That is, the design data of the information communication device is taken in via the design data input unit 11 of the input device unit 1 and stored in the design data storage unit 21 of the storage unit 2. The design data is, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a table 14 in which a set of state transition rules is described.
The design data of this table 14 includes a state transition rule "(S000, basic, S00" which is made up of three elements: "previous state", "button pressed" and "post state".
0), (S000, application, S110), ..., (S12
5, Start, S125) ”.

However, the "previous state" of this table 14
And "later state" are symbolically expressed as "S000" and "S001", respectively. The reason for using this symbolic expression is to save the storage capacity of the design data storage unit 21 and to compactly generate and output the state-operation transition diagram, as will be described later. If a sufficient storage capacity is ensured in the storage device unit 2, even a configuration in which the data of the original display contents as shown in FIG. good.

The state transition rule of the design data here is a state transition rule (S00) consisting of only two elements such as "previous state" and "button pressed".
0, basic), (S000, application), ..., (S125, start). On the contrary, the state transition rule here is "button to be pressed"
And a state transition rule (basic, S000), which consists of only two elements such as "later state", (applied, S11
0), ... (Start, S125) may be represented in the form of a set, and in this case, it is used unchanged.

The state-operation transition diagram generation unit 32 of the analysis data generation device unit 3 is the design data storage unit 21 of the storage device unit 2.
A state-operation transition diagram is generated based on the design data (FIG. 5) stored in. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, the first state-operation transition diagram 15 is generated. The first generated state-operation transition diagram 15 is stored in the state-operation transition diagram storage unit 25. State-operation transition diagram storage unit 25
The first state-operation transition diagram 15 stored in (1) is visually presented to the experimenter via the state-operation transition diagram output unit 42 of the output device unit 4.

The experimenter sees the presented result and inputs the experimenter intention data via the experimenter intention data input unit 121 of the input device section 1. The input experimenter intention data is stored in the experimenter intention data storage unit 221. Figure 7
As shown in, the experimenter intention data 16 input by the experimenter here is data relating to the target function, set value, etc. of the task imposed on the subject in the evaluation experiment.

The recording sheet generator 31 of the analysis data generator 3 includes the design data (FIG. 5) stored in the design data storage 21 and the experimenter intention data storage 22.
The experimenter intention data 16 (FIG. 7) stored in No. 1 is accessed to generate a recording sheet. As a result, FIG.
As shown in, the first recording sheet 17 for recording the input operation of the experimenter is generated.

In the first recording sheet 17, a state transition rule that is expected to be applied in a standard manner and a state transition rule that is not desirable to be applied in a standard manner are used as a target function in a task imposed on a subject. , It is displayed by distinguishing it beforehand according to the set value, etc.
Is displayed in an identifiable manner by an erroneous "x". Furthermore, the state transition rules determined to be positive “◯” are rearranged in the order in which they are applied.

As described above, the first recording sheet 17 generated by the recording sheet generating unit 31 of the analysis data generating device unit 3 is stored in the recording sheet storage unit 24 of the storage unit 2. Here, the first recording sheet 17 stored in the recording sheet storage unit 24 is visually presented to the experimenter via the recording sheet output unit 41 of the output device unit 4.

The state-operation transition diagram generator 32 of the analysis data generator 3 is shown in FIG. 9 based on the first recording sheet (17: FIG. 8) stored in the recording sheet storage 24. As described above, the state-operation transition diagram 18 that displays the route to be transitioned by the correct operation is generated. In FIG. 9, the chain of states (nodes) and operations (arcs) displayed by solid lines is the state-operation transition route related to the standard operation of the task imposed on the subject, while it is displayed by broken lines. State (node) and operation (arc)
Represents a state-operation transition route relating to an operation deviating from the standard of the task. In other words, when displayed by the output device unit 4, what route the subject is expected to follow to perform the task when starting the evaluation experiment, or what route is followed It is a state-operation transition diagram with a display form that allows you to see at a glance whether or not you will not meet your expectations.

The state-operation transition diagram 18 (FIG. 9) generated by the state-operation transition diagram generation unit 32 is newly stored in the state-operation transition diagram storage unit 25 of the storage device unit 2. The state-operation transition diagram 18 stored in the state-operation transition diagram storage unit 25 can be visually presented to the experimenter via the state-operation transition diagram output unit 42 of the output device unit 4. Like Note that, in FIG. 9, the standard route and the non-standard route are distinguished and displayed by the solid line and the broken line, but they may be distinguished and displayed by using other visual attributes. For example, when a display capable of color display is used as the output device unit 4, it is easier to distinguish the two by displaying the standard route (solid line) in red and the non-standard route (broken line) in blue. .

When the evaluation experiment is started and the subject starts to operate the facsimile machine of the target information communication device, the operation data of the subject is input at any time via the operation data input unit 13 of the input device unit 1. come. As shown in FIG. 10, the operation data 19 of the subject here is data including information regarding which button was pressed at what time, and this operation data 19 is updated at any time by the operation data storage unit 23. Stored in.

The recording sheet generating unit 31 of the analysis data generating device unit 3 accesses the operation data 19 stored in the operation data recording unit 23 while accessing the recording sheet storage unit 24.
The first recording sheet 17 stored in is rewritten one after another. That is, the time indicating when each of the individual state transition rules listed in the first recording sheet 17 is applied is added to the table of the recording sheet 17.
When the time is entered and rewritten, the recording sheet 17 becomes the recording sheet 27 in which the time is entered as shown in FIG. 11, for example. The time entered here is the cumulative work time since the start of the experiment, and is the elapsed time after the internal counter was reset to 0:00 at the time when the experiment was started. In this way, the recording sheet generation unit 31
The recording sheet 27 generated by the above and in which the application time of each state transition rule relating to the operation is entered is stored again in the recording sheet storage unit 24. The updated recording sheet 27 stored in the recording sheet storage unit 24 can be visually presented to the experimenter via the recording sheet output unit 41 of the output device unit 4.

Further, the state-operation transition diagram generation unit 32 of the analysis data generation device unit 3 is based on the updated recording sheet 27 stored in the recording sheet storage unit 24, and another state-operation transition diagram (FIG. 12 or FIG. 13). Here, in the state-operation transition diagram (28: FIG. 12, 29: FIG. 13) generated based on the recording sheet 27, the chain of states (nodes) and operations (arcs) displayed by thick solid lines is the subject. Is the state actually followed in the evaluation experiment-operation transition route, the route surrounded by a thin solid line, that is, the standard expected state-operation transition route, and the route surrounded by a thick solid line, namely the subject It is possible to compare at a glance the two states that the state actually traced-the operation transition route.

A newer state-operation transition diagram 28 (FIG. 12) generated by the state-operation transition diagram generation unit 32,
The newer state-operation transition diagram 29 (FIG. 13) generated by the state-operation transition diagram generation unit 32 is the storage device unit 2.
Is newly stored in the state-operation transition diagram storage unit 25. The new state-operation transition diagram (28, 29) stored in the state-operation transition diagram storage unit 25 is visually presented to the experimenter via the state-operation transition diagram output unit 42 of the output device unit 4. It

In the output example of this evaluation experiment, in order to avoid expressional confusion caused by the subject repeatedly following the same route, all routes are subjected to the first half (FIG. 12) and the second half (FIG. 1).
In the example shown in FIG.
However, if the subject does not follow the same route many times, or the state-operation transition route actually traced can be temporally identified by the lines of several kinds of thickness (the transition route line is displayed stepwise. If you can display it in bold),
All routes may be generated and output as a single state-operation transition diagram. In addition, the state shown in FIG. 12 and FIG.
The operation transition diagram shows the actual route, depending on the line shape and thickness.
Although the standard route and the non-standard route are displayed separately,
You may make it distinguish and display by other visual attributes. For example, when a display capable of color display is used as the output device unit 4, if the actual route is displayed in yellow, the standard route is displayed in red, and the non-standard route is displayed in blue, each route can be easily identified and easily viewed. Become.

In this way, the design data, the target data, and the operation data are taken in, a recording sheet is generated, and a state-operation transition diagram is drawn, and in the state-operation transition diagram,
By displaying the standard route, the non-standard route, and the actual route in a distinguishable manner, it is possible to understand how the series of button operations performed by the subject flow and how they deviate from the experimenter's expectations. It is easy to grasp visually.

However, in that case, when the number of applicable state transition rules increases and the state-operation transition diagram becomes complicated and huge, the state-operation transition is not necessarily performed by the expression method shown in FIG. 12 or FIG. It is not always easy to see in the figure. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a display method using a cumulative graph of the cumulative time of each operation can be used.

Therefore, the cumulative graph generation unit 33 of the analysis data generation processing unit 3 generates a cumulative graph based on the recording sheet 27 (FIG. 11) stored in the recording sheet storage unit 24. As a result, a cumulative graph as shown in FIG. 14 is generated. In this cumulative graph, the horizontal axis is the intermediate work step of each operation, the intermediate state arbitrarily selected by the experimenter is expressed as a value, and the vertical axis is displayed as the button press time of the subject, that is, the cumulative work time. By generating such a cumulative graph, it becomes possible to see at a glance which operation took a long time to reach an intermediate step, and what kind of undesirable state occurred in the middle. Further, in the cumulative graph shown in FIG. 14, the cumulative work time is used as data, but the cumulative button press count may be plotted as data.

As described above, the cumulative graph generated by the cumulative graph generation unit 33 is stored in the cumulative graph storage unit 26, and the cumulative graph stored in the cumulative graph storage unit 26 is output via the cumulative graph output unit 43. , Visually presented to the experimenter.

Next, another embodiment and modification of the user interface evaluation apparatus of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment described above, as shown in FIG. 7, the experimenter intention data is input by the labor of the experimenter himself and the target data is taken in. In other words, in the evaluation experiment, the experimenter himself inputs the data regarding the target function of the task imposed on the subject, the set value, etc. by his / her own effort, and takes in the target data. However, such target data can be automatically monitored by the subject without opening the experimenter intention data in advance by the experimenter, which page of the manual or instruction manual is open. If possible, the target data equivalent to the experimenter intention data 16 as shown in FIG. 7 can be automatically captured.

Therefore, in the user interface evaluation apparatus according to the second embodiment described below, as shown in FIG.
The target data input unit 12 of the input device unit 1 is provided with a page turning data input unit 122, and the target data storage unit 22 of the storage device unit 2 is further provided with a page turning data storage unit 22.
2 is provided. In other words, by these page turning data input unit 122 and page turning data storage unit 222,
It has an input function to automatically input the page-turning data of the subject, automatically inputs the page-turning data, takes in the target data, and can display the standard route and the non-standard route in the state-operation transition diagram separately.

In the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, as an example of the information communication equipment having the interactive user interface, a facsimile apparatus is taken up and its usability is experimentally evaluated. An operation example of an evaluation experiment using the user interface evaluation apparatus of the second embodiment will be described. That is, a specific operation example will be described in the case where the user interface evaluation apparatus of the second embodiment evaluates the user interface of the facsimile apparatus. It is assumed that the behavior of the operation panel can be converted into the transition image of the state and the operation as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main part of a user interface evaluation apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 15, 1 is an input device unit, 2 is a storage device unit, 3 is an analysis data generation device unit, 4 is an output device unit, 11 is a design data input unit, 12 is a target data input unit, and 122 is page turning data input. Section, 13 is an operation data input section, 21 is a design data storage section, 22 is a target data storage section, 222 is a page turning data storage section, 23 is an operation data storage section, 24 is a recording sheet storage section, and 25 is a state-operation. Transition diagram storage unit, 26 is cumulative graph storage unit, 31
Is a recording sheet generator, 32 is a state-operation transition diagram generator,
33 is a cumulative graph generation unit, 41 is a recording sheet output unit, 4
2 is a state-operation transition diagram output unit, and 43 is a cumulative graph output unit. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts.

Similar to the first embodiment, the experimenter takes in the data of the internal model of the information communication device to be evaluated, that is, the design data, via the design data input unit 11, and the design data storage unit 21. To store. Design data is
For example, the setting data of the table 14 as shown in FIG. Then, the state-operation transition diagram generation unit 32 generates the first state-operation transition diagram 15 as shown in FIG. 6 based on the design data of the table 14 stored in the design data storage unit 21. The first generated state-operation transition diagram 15 is stored in the state-operation transition diagram storage unit 25. The initial state-operation transition diagram 15 stored in the state-operation transition diagram storage unit 25 is visually presented to the experimenter via the state-operation transition diagram output unit 42.

In the second embodiment, the experimenter does not take in the experimenter intention data by himself, but through the page turning data input unit 122 of the target data input unit 12
Data about page turning performed by the subject is automatically captured. That is, in a part of the interactive interface of the information communication device operated by the subject, as shown in FIG. 16, when the sub window 35 is opened and the electronic instruction manual page is opened, that is, the soft manual is displayed. When an arbitrary page is opened, an operation signal related to the description content of the page is taken in as page turning data. It is known in advance which function or task is explained in the instruction manual of which page from the setting data, so depending on which page the subject opened.
The subject's goals are self-evident.

Here, in FIG. 16, the page in which the sub-window 35 is opened is a page explaining one-touch registration, so it can be presumed that the subject is trying to perform one-touch registration. The method of inputting target data in this way is such that the experimenter does not explicitly notify the subject of the function name to be used, or the function name to be used is explicitly notified. When used in an evaluation experiment of a type in which a plurality of tasks are continuously tried, the labor of the experimenter can be reduced. It also has the effect of preventing interruption of the evaluation experiment.

In this way, the page turning data automatically input by the operation of opening the sub-window 35 of the subject through the page turning data input unit 122 and opening the page of the electronic instruction manual is It is stored in the turning data storage unit 222. Recording sheet generator 3
1 accesses the design data (FIG. 5) stored in the design data storage unit 21 and the page turning data stored in the page turning data storage unit 222 to obtain the first recording sheet as shown in FIG. 17 is generated. Subsequent processing proceeds as in the first embodiment described above.

In the user interface evaluation apparatus of the first and second embodiments described above, the target data and design data repeatedly input by the experimenter or the subject are often the same data, Therefore, in such a case, the target data can be input and identified using the history data of the evaluation experiment performed by the subject in the past. A user interface evaluation device having such a configuration will be described as a third embodiment. In the user interface evaluation device of the third embodiment, since the history data from the evaluation experiments performed by the subject in the past is used, the user history is stored in the target data input unit 12 of the input device unit 1 as shown in FIG. The data input unit 123 is provided, and further, the target data storage unit 22 of the storage device unit 2 is provided with the user history data storage unit 223.

When the history data of the evaluation experiment conducted by the subject in the past can be used, the user who has participated in the evaluation experiment before is the subject of the current experiment, and
This is the case when such a subject makes use of the history of previous operations. Next, the operation in such a case will be described.

Similarly to the above-described first and second embodiments, the user interface evaluation apparatus of the third embodiment also uses a facsimile machine as an example of an information communication device having an interactive user interface. Taking up and experimentally evaluating its usability, an operation example of an evaluation experiment using the user interface evaluation apparatus of the third embodiment will be described. That is, a specific operation example in the case of evaluating the user interface in the facsimile apparatus by the user interface evaluation apparatus of the third embodiment will be described. It is assumed that the behavior of the operation panel can be converted into the transition image of the state and the operation as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main part of a user interface evaluation apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 17, 1 is an input device unit, 2 is a storage device unit, 3 is an analysis data generation device unit, 4 is an output device unit, 11 is a design data input unit, 12 is a target data input unit, and 123 is user history data. An input unit, 13 is an operation data input unit, 21 is a design data storage unit, 22 is a target data storage unit, 223 is a user history data storage unit, 23 is an operation data storage unit, 24 is a recording sheet storage unit, and 25 is a state. −
Operation transition diagram storage unit, 26 is a cumulative graph storage unit, 31 is a recording sheet generation unit, 32 is a state-operation transition diagram generation unit, 33
Is a cumulative graph generation unit, 41 is a recording sheet output unit, 42 is a state-operation transition diagram output unit, and 43 is a cumulative graph output unit. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts.

Also in the user interface evaluation apparatus of the third embodiment, as in the case of the first and second embodiments, the experimenter sets the internal model of the information communication equipment to be evaluated, that is, the design data. It is taken in through the design data input unit 11 and stored in the design data storage unit 21. The design data is, for example, setting data of the table 14 as shown in FIG. The state-operation transition diagram generation unit 32 is based on the design data of the table 14 stored in the design data storage unit 21 and is in the first state as shown in FIG.
The operation transition diagram 15 is generated. The generated state-operation transition diagram 15 is stored in the state-operation transition diagram storage unit 25.
State-First state stored in operation transition diagram storage unit 25-
The operation transition diagram 15 is visually presented to the experimenter via the state-operation transition diagram output unit 42.

When the past recording sheet 27 (FIG. 11) related to the subject is stored in the recording sheet storage unit 24, the experimenter uses the user history data input unit 123 to record the past recording sheet. Is input and stored in the user history data storage unit 223. In the recording sheet 27 as shown in FIG. 11, the standard state transition route (one-touch registration) of the task once imposed on the subject.
Is distinguished from other non-standard state transition routes, the standard state transition route shown in FIG.
You can consider it as the current standard state transition route and register it provisionally. In other words, without waiting for the experimenter's manual input of the experimenter's intention data and the input of the page turning data performed by the subject, the target data of the task performed by the subject is estimated and stored, and the available recording sheet is used. Can be generated.

In this way, the user history data storage unit 22
The historical data of the subject (FIG. 11) stored in
If all the recorded time data is deleted, it is the same as the first recording sheet 17 as shown in FIG. 8, and it is re-stored by re-storing it as it is in the recording sheet storage unit 24. A new experiment can be started using the recording sheet 17. Of course, when the experimenter's intention data is input by the experimenter or the page turning data performed by the subject is input and does not conflict with the subject's history data stored in the user history data storage unit 223. Should just continue the experiment. If the newly input target data and the previously estimated and stored target data conflict, the previously estimated and stored target data is discarded and a new recording sheet is generated. By storing and outputting, the contradiction is resolved.

As a matter of course, when the history data recorded on the external recording medium such as a floppy disk, an IC card, a magnetic card is used as the user history data storage unit 223, the configuration here is separated. May be provided. For example, if an ID card for an individual subject is prepared in advance and the contents of the ID card, that is, the subject history data, can be accessed and used each time the experiment is participated, the result shown in FIG. The process (time) of generating the first recording sheet 17 as shown can be omitted.

As described above, the recording sheet (FIG. 11) generated and stored based on the user history data is the operation data (FIG. 10) input through the operation data input unit 13.
It is rewritten at any time by using the new recording sheet as needed, the state-operation transition diagram is generated, and the cumulative graph is generated. These generated analysis data are also stored in the respective storage units of the storage unit 2, and are displayed by the output unit 4 respectively. These processes are the same as in the case of the first embodiment.

By the way, in the conventional user interface evaluation apparatus, since the standard transition route and the non-standard transition route are not distinguished in advance, the operation error of the subject is automatically detected while performing the evaluation experiment, Although it was not possible to take a flexible measure such as giving a warning to the subject due to the detection, the user interface evaluation apparatus according to the fourth embodiment divides the standard transition route and the non-standard transition route in advance. Separately, based on the operation data that is input from time to time, whether the operation that the subject performed at that time is on the standard route (correct operation) or on the non-standard route (error) It can be configured to detect immediately and give an alert on the fly.

As a fourth embodiment, an application example of a user interface evaluation device configured to automatically detect a subject error and give a warning on the spot will be described below.

Also in the description of the user interface evaluation apparatus of the fourth embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the third embodiment described above, information having an interactive user interface is provided. Taking a communication device as an example, a facsimile device will be taken up and an operation example in the case of empirically evaluating the usability of the operation panel as shown in FIG. 2 will be described. The behavior of the operation panel at this time is also shown in FIG.
It is also possible to convert the transition image of the state and operation as shown in FIG.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the structure of the main part of a user interface evaluation apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 18, 1 is an input device unit, 2 is a storage device unit, 3 is an analysis data generation device unit, and 4 is an output device unit. Further, 11 is a design data input unit, 12 is a target data input unit, 121 is an experimenter intention data input unit, 122
Is a page turning data input unit, 123 is a user history data input unit, 13 is an operation data input unit, 21 is a design data storage unit, 22 is a target data storage unit, 221 is an experimenter intention data storage unit, and 222 is page turning. Data storage unit, 2
23 is a user history data storage unit, 23 is an operation data storage unit, 24 is a recording sheet storage unit, 25 is a state-operation transition diagram storage unit, 26 is a cumulative graph storage unit, 31 is a recording sheet generation unit, and 32 is a state. -Operation transition diagram generation unit, 33 is a cumulative graph generation unit, 34 is an error detection unit, 44 is an error warning output unit, 41 is a recording sheet output unit, 42 is a state-operation transition diagram output unit, and 43 is a cumulative graph output unit. Is. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 represent the same parts.

Similar to the above-mentioned first, second, and third embodiments, the experimenter determines that the internal model, that is, the design data of the information communication equipment to be evaluated and the standard-non-standard. The target data, which is the basis for distinguishing the standard, and the operation data of the operation performed by the subject are input via the input units of the input device unit 1 and stored in the storage units of the storage unit 2. Based on these data, the recording sheet generation unit 31 rewrites the recording sheet of the evaluation experiment currently in progress at any time. As shown in FIG. 11, in the recording sheet 27,
The individual state transition rules applied by the subject pressing the operation button are categorized into one of "○ (correct)," × (error), and "? (Both possibilities are possible)". There is. Further, even a state transition rule categorized as “◯ (correct)” may be regarded as an error if applied more than once. In this way, whether the applied state transition rule, that is, the button operation of the subject is correct (standard) or incorrect (nonstandard)
It can be immediately detected as soon as a signal for pressing the button is input.

The error detecting section 34 is the recording sheet generating section 3
The generation of the recording sheet according to 1 is constantly monitored to detect an error. In the recording sheet 27 shown in FIG.
The button press at the time when an underline is added indicates the location where the error detection unit 34 has detected an error (determined to be an error operation). When an error is detected by the error detection unit 34, at the same time,
The experimenter gives a warning message “The current operation is wrong!” To the subject via the error warning output unit 44.
Is output. This warning may be a visual message or an audible message.

The user of the information communication device becomes uncertain whether the operation he is currently performing is correct or incorrect,
There are quite a few cases in which the user is anxious about the correct operation and shifts to another wrong operation method. Therefore, in response to such a case, the evaluation experiment shows that
Examining how a user's use of the device is affected by presenting visual or audible warning messages from time to time can provide valuable data for improving the user interface. In that sense,
Various variations such as continuously giving the approval message "Good!" Only when no error is detected, giving another message only when an error is detected, and not giving any message. Is also possible.

As described above, according to the user interface evaluation apparatus of the fourth embodiment, the input device section for inputting the original data which is the basis of the record and the total in the experiment,
A storage device unit for storing the original data input by the input device unit and the analysis data generated by the analysis data generation device unit, and the generation of the analysis data based on the original data stored in the storage device unit. And an output device unit for presenting the original data and analysis data stored in the storage unit to the user and issuing a warning notifying the user of the error detection. The user, for example, automatically or semi-automatically inputs design data, target data, operation data, etc. as necessary, and automatically generates a recording sheet, state-operation transition diagram, cumulative graph, etc. It becomes possible to display. Further, in that case, it becomes possible to automatically detect an operation error and obtain a warning. By accumulating such effects, it becomes possible to carry out an evaluation experiment with excellent cost performance for evaluating the usability of information communication devices.

[0070]

As described above, the user interface evaluation apparatus of the present invention captures original data such as design data, target data, and operation data relating to the information communication equipment to be evaluated as much as possible, and The analysis data that detects the difference between the "button operation sequence" and the "standard button operation sequence" is generated, and the difference is displayed in a display form that allows comparison at a glance, so that information communication equipment is easy to use. It is possible to dramatically improve the cost performance of the evaluation experiment for evaluating the quality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a user interface evaluation apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an operation panel of a user interface of a facsimile device which is an evaluation experiment target;

FIG. 3 is a first diagram showing a state transition relating to a user interface operation of an operation panel of a facsimile device which is an evaluation experiment target;

FIG. 4 is a second diagram following the first diagram showing the state transition relating to the user interface operation of the operation panel of the facsimile apparatus to be evaluated.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of design data which is an object of evaluation of usability of a facsimile apparatus which is an object of an evaluation experiment,

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a state-operation transition diagram of the analysis data generated by the state-operation transition diagram generation unit of the analysis data generation device unit;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of experimenter intention data input by an experimenter,

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a recording sheet generated by a recording sheet generation unit of the analysis data generation device unit;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a new state-operation transition diagram generated based on the first recording sheet,

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of operation data that can be input via an operation data input unit;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a recording sheet in which the time when each state transition rule is applied is entered by the operation of the experimenter.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of another state-operation transition diagram generated based on the updated recording sheet;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of another state-operation transition diagram generated based on the updated recording sheet;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a display method of a cumulative graph of cumulative time of each operation generated by a cumulative graph generation unit,

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a user interface evaluation apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an operation of opening a page of an electronic instruction manual in a subwindow of a part of an interactive interface of an information communication device operated by a subject;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a user interface evaluation apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a user interface evaluation apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input device part, 2 ... Storage device part, 3 ... Generation device part, 4
... output device section, 5 ... display screen, 6 ... numeric keypad, 7 ... cursor key, 8 ... screen switching key, 9 ... memory key, 10 ...
Start key, 11 ... Design data input section, 12 ... Target data input section, 13 ... Operation data input section, 21 ... Design data storage section, 22 ... Target data storage section, 23 ... Operation data storage section, 24 ... Recording sheet storage 25: state-operation transition diagram storage unit, 26 ... cumulative graph storage unit, 31 ... recording sheet generation unit, 32 ... state-operation transition diagram generation unit, 33 ... cumulative graph generation unit, 34 ... error detection unit, 41 ... recording sheet output unit, 42 ... state-operation transition diagram output unit, 43 ... cumulative graph output unit, 44 ... error warning output unit, 121 ... experimenter intention data input unit, 122 ... page turning data input unit, 123 ... use Person history data input unit 221, experimenter intention data storage unit 222, page turning data storage unit 223, user history data storage unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A user interface evaluation device for supporting an evaluation experiment for evaluating the ease of use of a device, the input device inputting original data to be a source of recording and aggregation in the evaluation experiment, and the input original data. Storage means for storing the analysis data, generation means for generating analysis data based on the original data, and output means for presenting the analysis data generated together with the original data stored in the storage means to the user. A user interface evaluation device characterized by the above.