Context-Aware World Clock for Portable Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable electronic devices face challenges in providing accurate and convenient access to time information for remote locations, as manual entry can be cumbersome and prone to errors, especially on devices with limited interface space.
Innovation Solution
The system automatically generates and displays time information for remote locations of interest to a user based on context information, such as contact locations and travel history, without requiring user input, using a network of devices that can communicate with each other.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual entry of remote locations is used, then users can access time information for specific locations, but the process becomes cumbersome and prone to typographical errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines remote locations of interest by analyzing context information such as contact locations and travel history, eliminating the need for manual user input. The device serves itself by autonomously identifying which locations the user wants to monitor and displaying their time information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-processes context information including contact records, travel history, and location data to proactively identify remote locations of interest before the user needs time information. This preliminary analysis enables automatic display without requiring user initiation or input.
2Ease of operation
If manual entry interface is provided on portable devices, then users can input location names, but the limited surface area makes the virtual keyboard insufficient for comfortable typing
Solution Approach 1:
The portable electronic device automatically generates and displays time information for remote locations by analyzing its own context information (contacts, travel history, location data) without requiring the user to interact with a keyboard or input interface. The system self-determines which locations are relevant to the user.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts location information from existing context data sources (contact records, travel history, location database) rather than requiring new input from the user. This extraction process eliminates the need for manual typing while leveraging already-available information.
3Ease of operation
If automatic generation based on context information is implemented, then manual entry is eliminated, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system leverages existing multi-functional components (contact management, travel history tracking, location services) that portable devices already possess. By integrating these existing functions to automatically determine locations of interest, the system achieves automatic time information generation without adding significant complexity, as it reuses established device capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a context analysis module that acts as an intermediary between existing device data (contacts, travel history) and the world clock function. This mediator processes available information to automatically identify relevant locations, bridging the gap between existing features and the new automatic time display capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Time information for various locations can be automatically generated for display on a portable electronic device. The time information can include time information for remote locations away from the current location of a user. The time information can be generated without requiring user input specifying the locations. The locations can be determined or identified based on context information of the user or context information of contacts of the user. The locations can be prioritized and the time information can be displayed according to the prioritization.