Ambient Awareness Layer for Dynamic Web Module Coordination

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Solution Overview

Problem

Web applications within a web interface are typically developed independently and remain static relative to each other, meaning user activity in one application does not affect or change the characteristics of another application or the user experience.

Innovation Solution

An ambient awareness layer is introduced in the background of a webpage that receives activity indicators from various web modules, allowing them to modify their behavior and appearance based on user activity and external inputs, thereby enabling dynamic adjustments to the webpage layout and module enablement/disabling.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If web modules are developed independently without coordination, then development time and costs are reduced, but the website cannot dynamically adjust to user activity

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedevelopment efficiencyVSAvoiddynamic adjustment capability

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

An ambient awareness layer is introduced as an intermediary component that receives activity indicators from independent web modules and distributes relevant information to other modules. This mediator enables dynamic coordination between independently developed modules without requiring direct integration or extensive coding between them, thus maintaining development efficiency while achieving adaptability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system segments the web application into independent modules that maintain their autonomy while communicating through a standardized ambient awareness layer. Each module can be developed separately and publishes activity indicators without needing to know about other modules, allowing independent development while achieving coordinated dynamic behavior through the segmentation architecture.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Adaptability or versatility

If extensive coordination between web modules is implemented, then dynamic adjustment to user activity is achieved, but development time and costs increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedynamic adjustment capabilityVSAvoiddevelopment complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The ambient awareness layer serves as a universal communication infrastructure that handles coordination between all web modules through a single standardized interface. Rather than implementing unique coordination logic between each pair of modules, this multi-functional layer provides general-purpose activity indication and distribution, reducing development complexity while maintaining comprehensive adaptability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The ambient awareness layer acts as a mediator that abstracts away the complexity of inter-module coordination. Modules interact with this intermediary through simple publish-subscribe patterns rather than directly coordinating with multiple other modules, significantly reducing the complexity of implementation while achieving full dynamic adjustment capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Ease of manufacture

If web modules are made static and independent, then ease of development is improved, but user experience personalization is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveease of developmentVSAvoiduser experience quality

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

Web modules autonomously modify their own behavior and appearance based on activity indicators received from the ambient awareness layer. Each module subscribes to relevant activity types and automatically adjusts itself without requiring external control logic, maintaining ease of development while enabling personalized user experiences through self-directed adaptation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The ambient awareness layer collects activity indicators from user interactions and feeds this information back to relevant web modules. This feedback mechanism enables modules to dynamically adjust their behavior based on actual user activity, enhancing user experience personalization while maintaining simple independent development through standardized feedback loops.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS20250147824A1System and method for ambient awareness within a web environment

Publication Date: 2025.05.08 AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL RELATED SERVICES CO INC

AI summary

Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for providing ambient awareness of user actions between individual web modules or web applications within a webpage or web interface. The different modules subscribe to various notifications based on module type, action type, or other user action properties. An ambient awareness layer exists in the backend to receive detected event notifications from the different web modules indicating the detection of some user action with respect to graphical user interfaces (GUIs) generated by those modules. Based on the subscription properties, the ambient awareness layer identifies one or more web modules to be notified of the detected event. The ambient awareness layer then transmits an event notification to those modules. In response, the modules that receive the notification can modify the appearance of respective GUIs or their behavior to specifically tailor themselves to the user's actions or apparent interests.