User Experience Design team applies for UI patents

The User Experience Design group submitted applications for two patents in 2007. User interface patents are not easy to apply for or acquire because of the level of detail needed to explain how the proposed UI differs from existing solutions.

Online help design

The first patent application is in the US Patent Office. The application is for a method of presenting layered contextual help, and the authors of the design are Maryam, Len, and Krista. Try out the online help on the VeriSign Identity Protection Center.

Time-based security codes on a mobile device

The second patent application is now under review with VeriSign's legal department for the VeriSign Identity Protection Mobile device credential application that displays a security code that changes every 30 seconds. Read about it on this page.

VeriSign Identity Protection Mobile time-based UI designs and testing

In the summer of 2007, the User Experience design team worked on designs for the new time-based mobile VIP credential application. The time-based algorithm provides a new six-digit security code every 30 seconds. Len developed the UI designs and Shima performed user testing.

Len created five prototype applications in J2ME to test different UI designs. The first design was an event-based VIP mobile application that was used for comparison and required the user to press a button on a cell phone to receive a security code. The other four designs displayed security codes automatically every 30 seconds and did not require user intervention.

Design 1: Event-based. The user must press the GENERATE button to receive a security code; the security code disappears after 30 seconds.
Design 2: Security code displayed every 30 seconds with no indication of time remaining.
Design 3: Security code displayed every 30 seconds with an indicator bar showing time remaining. This design was the least preferred by all users.
Design 5: Security code displayed every 30 seconds with an indicator clock and counter showing the time remaining; the user must press the SHOW CODE button to view the security code on application launch.
The four time-based interfaces were designed to test whether users were able to understand the behavior of the time-based algorithm and to verify if they could determine when the security code would change. The fifth design with the SHOW CODE button was included to test if users preferred to hide the security code after an application launch. The event-based design was used as a control to test if users preferred to press a button on the phone every time they needed a security code.
Design 4: Security code displayed every 30 seconds with an indicator clock and counter showing time remaining. This was the users' clear favorite.

Click the image to see an enlargement.

Usability testing results

Shima conducted two rounds of usability studies on the five designs.

The first study tested user preference for the designs with the bar indicator and the clock indicator (designs 3 and 4). The study was conducted on July 30, 2007 through August 1, 2007 with seven internal VeriSign employees. Most users preferred the clock indicator over the bar indicator.

Based on the results of the first study, a second study was conducted on August 22, 2007 through August 27, 2007 with 11 external participants. Design 3 was dropped, and the second study retested the other designs. Most participants preferred design 4, which generated the security code automatically and had a clock indicator to represent the remaining time. Number 4 was the design that was implemented.