Real-Time Collaboration Participant List Segmentation and Status Indicators

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing real-time collaboration applications, such as Web conferencing, face challenges in user interface design where large participant lists obscure important users, and external communication applications lack visual indicators for current collaboration session participation, making it cumbersome for users to find relevant information and messages.

Innovation Solution

A system that visually separates participants with recent communication history to the top of the list and provides visual indicators in external applications for current collaboration session participation, allowing users to quickly identify important participants and associated messages.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If a complete participant list is displayed in real-time collaboration applications, then all participants are visible, but most participants become hidden or difficult to locate in large lists

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevisibility of participant informationVSAvoidease of finding specific participant

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The participant list is segmented into multiple sections: a collapsed section showing all participants and an expanded section showing detailed information about selected participants. This segmentation allows the system to display complete participant information while making it easy to locate specific participants by expanding only the relevant section.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system transitions from a one-dimensional flat list to a two-dimensional hierarchical structure with collapsed and expanded sections. This dimensional change allows participants to be organized in a tree-like structure where the collapsed section provides an overview and the expanded section provides detailed information, solving the problem of locating specific participants in large lists.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Loss of information

If external communication applications display all messages, then complete communication history is available, but messages from collaboration session participants are difficult to locate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaccess to communication messagesVSAvoidtime to locate collaboration-related messages

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary action by pre-identifying and tagging messages that are related to current collaboration sessions before the user needs to search for them. Messages from participants in active collaboration sessions are marked with visual indicators, allowing users to quickly locate collaboration-related messages without scanning through the entire message history.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses color changes and visual indicators to differentiate messages related to collaboration sessions from other messages. This visual distinction allows users to quickly identify and locate messages from collaboration session participants among their general communication messages, reducing the time required to find relevant information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #32Color changes

3Reliability

If participant lists are updated in real-time to show external communications, then communication status is current, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaccuracy of participant status informationVSAvoidsystem integration complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system achieves multi-functionality by using a unified communication framework that handles both real-time collaboration session communications and external communications through the same interface and data structures. This universal approach allows the system to display and update participant status information from multiple communication sources without requiring separate complex systems for each communication type.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS7949952B2Method and system for providing user representations in real-time collaboration session participant lists reflecting external communications together with user representations in external communication applications indicating current real-time collaboration session participation

Publication Date: 2011.05.24 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

A system for providing user representations in real-time collaboration application participant lists reflecting external communications, together with user representations in external communication applications indicating current real-time collaboration session participation. A participant list in a collaboration session represents other participants with whom the local user has recently or frequently communicated in a visually separate area. User representations associated with messages, entries, or the like, and contained in applications external to the collaboration application are displayed in a way that visually indicates the user's current participation in a collaboration session.