Intelligent graphical user interface design utilizing multiple fuzzy agents

A novel approach for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of human-co mputer interactions through an intelligent graphical user interface (GUI) i s presented in this paper. It is demonstrated that through monitoring the u ser's actions, the system can determine the intents of the user, transformi ng the deduced intentions into system actions. Understanding of the user's implicit actions can reduce the burden on the user in terms of required exp licit commands. Hence, a human friendlier computer system is built. One met hod to assess the effectiveness of the user interface enhancements is by re duction in the number of operations performed by the user in achieving a sp ecific goal while using the GUI. The enhanced graphical user interface desc ribed in this paper is a conventional GUI enhanced with an intelligent cont rol module. The intelligent component is composed of a group of software ag ents that cooperate and compete to control the system. A computer mouse is used as the input device, through which the user performs a number of click s and drag-and-drop tasks, while selecting and moving objects on the comput er screen. The intelligent module monitors the movements and states of the mouse and the cursor, and aids the user based on the multiple agents' deter minations of the user's sub-goals. Experimental results are presented, wher e human subjects achieved specific goals using the GUI, with and without th e intelligent control module. Initial experiments have confirmed that the n ovel technique is a feasible approach for designing an effective and effici ent intelligent GUI, as it reduces the amount of work required from the hum an user who is interacting with the computer. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V . All rights reserved.