Air Conditioner Group Icons for Floor Plan Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managers face difficulties in recognizing how equipment devices are grouped on the equipment management screen, which uses a floor configuration diagram, leading to challenges in performing operations by group.
Innovation Solution
An equipment management apparatus and method that includes a display to show an equipment management screen with icons representing equipment devices on a floor configuration diagram, an operation detector to identify operations on the screen, and a display information generator to change icon sizes and display operation buttons based on group specifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If all equipment device icons are displayed at the same size on the equipment management screen, then the screen layout is simple and uniform, but the manager cannot recognize how equipment devices are grouped and cannot easily perform operations by group
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different display sizes to icons based on their group membership. When a group is selected, icons belonging to that group are displayed at a first (larger) size, while icons of other groups are displayed at a second (smaller) size. This visual differentiation through localized size changes enables managers to easily recognize grouped equipment without complicating the overall display structure.
2Productivity
If the manager manually selects each equipment device for operations, then individual device control is precise, but the operation process becomes time-consuming and inefficient when managing multiple devices in a group
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the selection and operation processes by allowing managers to select multiple equipment devices belonging to the same group through a single group selection operation. Once a group is selected, all devices in that group are automatically activated for operation, eliminating the need to manually select each device individually. This merging of operations significantly improves productivity when managing multiple devices.
3Ease of operation
If the equipment management screen displays only the floor configuration diagram with icons, then the screen remains clean and simple, but additional operation buttons and controls are not readily accessible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements the nested doll principle by placing operation buttons and controls directly on top of the equipment device icons on the floor configuration diagram. When a device icon is selected, operation buttons for that device are superimposed on the icon itself, allowing managers to access controls without consuming additional screen space. This nesting approach maintains screen cleanliness while improving control accessibility.
Data Source
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AI summary
A controller (20) which displays an air conditioner management screen in which air conditioner icons (101) indicating air conditioners and having a first display size are superimposed on a floor configuration diagram of a building at positions corresponding to installation sites of the air conditioners (10) includes a display information generator (23) configured to, in response to an operation of specifying display of a group to which a prescribed air conditioner belongs, identify all air conditioners belonging to the specified group, change display sizes of air conditioner icons corresponding to the identified air conditioners to a second display size larger than the first display size, display operation buttons (102) for implementing settings of the identified air conditioners at prescribed positions on the air conditioner management screen in a superimposed manner, and change display sizes of air conditioner icons (101) corresponding to air conditioners not belonging to the specified group to a third display size smaller than the first display size.