Conditional Control Display in Chat Interfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Collaboration platforms with integrated instant messaging functionality face challenges in managing a growing number of controls from installed integrations, leading to user confusion and inefficiency, as users struggle to find and utilize relevant controls within the chat interface.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of dynamic content items and conditional controls within the chat interface, allowing content providers to define UI extensions that are displayed separately from messaging, enabling users to perform actions directly from the chat room based on specific conditions, and synchronization mechanisms to ensure integration updates are reflected across clients.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the number of installed integrations is increased to provide more functionality, then the functionality and versatility of the collaboration platform is improved, but the number of controls becomes unwieldy and difficult to navigate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments controls into two categories: native controls that are always visible in the chat interface, and integration controls that are conditionally displayed based on specific conditions. This segmentation allows the system to maintain comprehensive functionality while reducing the perceived complexity by only showing relevant controls at any given time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic control display where integration controls are shown or hidden based on evaluated conditions. The chat interface adapts its control set dynamically rather than displaying all possible controls simultaneously, making the interface more manageable while preserving access to extensive functionality through conditional display.
2Ease of operation
If all integration controls are displayed in the chat interface to provide direct access to actions, then user convenience is improved, but user confusion increases due to the overwhelming number of controls
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by displaying different sets of controls in different contexts within the chat interface. Rather than uniformly displaying all controls, the system tailors the control set to the specific integration and condition, providing convenience only where and when it is relevant, thereby reducing overall confusion.
Solution Approach 2:
The control display is made dynamic based on evaluated conditions. The system automatically shows or hides integration controls based on the current state and context, providing convenient direct access to actions only when appropriate conditions are met, thus avoiding overwhelming users with irrelevant controls.
3Productivity
If integration controls are made readily accessible in the chat interface, then efficiency is improved by avoiding external application launches, but the difficulty of finding and utilizing relevant controls increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic visibility of integration controls based on evaluated conditions. This ensures that relevant controls are automatically brought to visibility when their associated conditions are met, maintaining high efficiency by keeping useful controls accessible while reducing the difficulty of finding controls by hiding irrelevant ones.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses condition evaluation as a feedback mechanism to determine which integration controls should be visible. This automated feedback loop ensures that the most relevant controls are displayed based on the current state, improving both efficiency and discoverability without requiring users to manually search through all available controls.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein is a computer implemented method for displaying a conditional control in a chat interface running on a client device. The method comprises receiving, from a collaboration platform, a conditional control descriptor which defines a conditional control, one or more conditions, and an action to be performed on activation of the conditional control; determining whether the one or more conditions are met; and in response to determining that the one or more conditions are met, displaying the conditional control in the chat interface.