Object-based action planning

Abstract Current models of human-computer interaction are specialized in either semantic or procedural aspects. An object-based formalization of conceptual tool knowledge is presented which aims to integrate a high level semantic description and the procedural level. The principle of data-abstraction provides explicit links between both levels. An object-based analysis of the user's task world and the system's functionality produces a well defined set of simple tasks. By using a state-oriented definition of the task we are able to represent the task within the same formal model. Therefore, the intermediate levels of semantic action planning, i.e., the transformation of a user's intention into a sequence of simple tasks, can be derived by the object-based description of the functionality of a system.