Circular UI Component Snaps Back to Prevent Ad Bypass
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing media content playback controls on touchscreen devices are not intuitive or easy to use, requiring linear gestures for navigation and lacking integration of scrubber bars for playback and volume control, and fail to prevent users from bypassing advertisements during playback.
Innovation Solution
A circular user interface (UI) component for media content playback that includes elements for playing, pausing, fast forwarding, rewinding, displaying thumbnail snapshots, volume control, closed captioning, and bookmarking, with a feature that snaps back to advertisements during fast forwarding to prevent bypassing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If linear playback controls are used, then the interface is simple to implement, but the ease of operation deteriorates as users must lift hand and drag fingers across screen in linear manner
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by replacing linear scrubber bars with circular scrubber bars. The circular interface allows users to interact with playback controls by dragging their finger in a circular motion around the perimeter of the screen, which the patent describes as conforming to natural gestures of hand digits. This curved interface integrates both playback and volume controls into a single unified component, improving ease of operation while maintaining reasonable device complexity.
2Ease of operation
If separate scrubber bars for playback and volume control are used, then the device complexity is low, but the ease of operation worsens as they must be separately manipulated in different areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges separate playback control and volume control scrubber bars into a single integrated circular scrubber bar interface. Both controls are combined into one unified circular component that users interact with using the same circular dragging gesture, eliminating the need to separately manipulate different controls in different screen areas. This merging improves ease of operation by providing a consistent interaction model while slightly increasing device complexity through the integrated design.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If fast forward control is unrestricted, then the ease of operation is high, but harmful factors increase as users can bypass advertisements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by implementing a guard mechanism that prevents users from fast-forwarding past advertisement content. When a user attempts to drag the circular scrubber bar beyond the advertisement endpoint, the system detects this attempt and automatically snaps the scrubber bar back to the advertisement's end position. This pre-emptive constraint prevents the harmful effect of ad bypassing while maintaining ease of operation through automatic correction rather than requiring additional user actions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by providing visual indication when users attempt to bypass advertisements. The circular scrubber bar shows feedback by snapping back to the designated position when dragged beyond ad content, and the interface provides visual cues about the advertisement boundary. This feedback mechanism guides user behavior and prevents ad bypassing while maintaining an intuitive circular interaction model.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system, computer program product, and computer readable storage medium provide the ability to prevent bypass of advertisement viewing. A media content user interface component (that controls playback of the media content and an advertisement in a media player) is activated. The component includes a circular progress bar and a progress marker that coincides with the circular progress bar. As the media content is playing, the progress marker moves around the circular progress bar reflecting a progress of the playing. At a defined point in the media content, an advertisement is played. User input advances the progress marker along the circular progress bar to fast forward the media content. Upon an attempt to advance the progress marker a defined threshold distance beyond the advertisement, the progress marker is snapped back to the advertisement thereby preventing bypass of viewing the advertisement.