Breakout Room Status Screen for Real-Time Discussion Monitoring

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing communication systems fail to allow a facilitator to intuitively grasp the status of discussions in multiple groups during online group discussions, as they lack the ability to visualize and summarize the communication status across different breakout rooms.

Innovation Solution

A visual communication system that displays an information display screen with a conversation log area showing language information in chronological order and a whiteboard work area for content placement, along with a status check screen that lists information display screens of multiple groups, enabling facilitators to monitor discussion statuses.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If a facilitator monitors multiple group discussions individually, then the facilitator can understand each group's discussion content, but the time and effort required to monitor all groups increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvediscussion status informationVSAvoidtime to monitor multiple groups

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the monitoring task by creating separate information display screens for each group, which are then aggregated into a unified status check screen. This allows the facilitator to view all groups simultaneously without having to switch between them, resolving the contradiction between complete information gathering and time consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system creates visual copies of each group's information display screen (showing conversation logs and whiteboard content) and presents them together on a single status check screen. This copying mechanism enables the facilitator to grasp all discussion statuses at once without sequentially visiting each group, thereby reducing time loss while maintaining information completeness.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

2Loss of information

If the system displays detailed conversation logs and whiteboard content for each group, then the facilitator can comprehensively understand discussion content, but the complexity of the monitoring interface increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvediscussion content visibilityVSAvoidinterface complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The interface is segmented into standardized modular units, where each group's discussion is presented in a separate information display screen containing conversation log and whiteboard sections. This modular segmentation allows comprehensive information display while maintaining interface simplicity through repetition of standardized templates.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The status check screen serves multiple functions simultaneously: it displays conversation logs, whiteboard content, and overall discussion status for all groups in a unified interface. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate monitoring tools and simplifies the overall interface complexity while maintaining comprehensive information visibility.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Reliability

If real-time monitoring of all groups is implemented, then the facilitator can immediately respond to discussion issues, but the system resource consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvereal-time monitoring capabilityVSAvoidsystem resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system merges the monitoring of multiple groups into a single unified status check screen that aggregates information from all groups. This consolidation allows real-time monitoring of all discussions simultaneously without requiring separate system resources for each group, thereby maintaining reliability while reducing overall resource consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentUS20260079989A1Communication system, terminal apparatus, and information processing system

Publication Date: 2026.03.19 RICOH CO LTD

AI summary

A system, apparatus, and method each: displays, to a first user belonging to a particular group of a plurality of groups, an information display screen for the particular group, the information display screen including a first area and a second area, the first area including a plurality of pieces of language information each converted from a speech in a chronological order, the second area including contents based on the displayed plurality of pieces of language information; and displays, to a second user who manages the plurality of groups, a status check screen including a list of a plurality of information display screens for the plurality of groups, the plurality of information display screens including the information display screen for the particular group.