Cross-Application Digital Ink Repository System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computing devices require each application to implement its own digital ink functionality, leading to inefficiencies and user inconvenience in managing and searching digital ink inputs across multiple applications.
Innovation Solution
A cross-application digital ink repository system that receives, stores, and manages digital ink inputs, allowing ink stroke data and context information to be shared and searched across applications, with a digital ink container including an identifier for the application and context data such as time, location, and user presence, facilitating unified search and retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If each application implements its own digital ink functionality, then each application can independently manage digital ink inputs, but users experience inconvenience in managing and searching digital ink inputs across multiple applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges digital ink functionality across multiple applications by introducing a centralized digital ink repository that stores and manages digital ink inputs from different applications. This allows users to search and access digital ink inputs uniformly across applications, resolving the contradiction between application independence and user convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a digital ink repository as an intermediary between applications and users. This mediator handles the storage, management, and retrieval of digital ink inputs, allowing applications to maintain independence while providing users with unified access across all applications.
2Reliability
If digital ink inputs are stored in individual applications, then each application maintains its own digital ink data, but users consume more time and energy searching across multiple applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines digital ink storage from multiple applications into a single centralized repository. This merging maintains data integrity by preserving the association between digital ink inputs and their source applications while enabling efficient unified searching, thereby reducing user search time across applications.
3Ease of operation
If a centralized digital ink repository is implemented, then users can search and access digital ink inputs independently of applications, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a digital ink repository as an intermediary layer between applications and users. This mediator handles the complexity of centralized management while presenting a simple unified interface to users, and maintains standard data structures that applications can easily interact with, thus managing system complexity while improving user convenience.
4Productivity
If applications implement their own digital ink functionality, then each application has full control over its digital ink data, but digital ink management and searching become inefficient across applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges digital ink management functionality into a centralized repository that handles storage, indexing, and retrieval for multiple applications. This consolidation improves productivity by enabling efficient cross-application searching and management, while the standardized interface reduces the implementation complexity for individual applications.
Data Source
AI summary
A computing device includes a digital ink system that provides digital ink support to applications on the computing device. Digital ink inputs are received by the digital ink system, which provides ink stroke data for the digital ink inputs to the application for storage in a manner and format the application desires. The digital ink system also generates a digital ink container associated with the digital ink input, and communicates the digital ink container to a digital ink repository. The digital ink repository stores digital ink containers for multiple applications, and can be searched from a computing device to identify digital ink input to an application regardless of which application the digital ink was input to.