Cursor Skip Mechanism for Icon Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In information processing apparatuses using graphical user interfaces, the operability of cursor movement between icons is poor due to the need for manual switching between continuity and skip modes.
Innovation Solution
An information processing apparatus that automatically determines whether another icon is within a predetermined distance in the cursor's movement direction, allowing the cursor to skip regions between icons, thereby enhancing operability without manual switching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual switching between continuity mode and skip mode is performed, then cursor movement control is achieved, but operability deteriorates due to additional user operations required
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically determines whether to switch between continuity mode and skip mode based on the cursor's movement direction and the positions of icons, eliminating the need for manual user switching. The controller detects when the cursor is moving between icons and automatically activates skip mode, then returns to continuity mode when appropriate, making the system self-regulating.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the cursor movement parameter (skip distance) based on the detected movement direction and icon positions. When movement between icons is detected, the skip distance is set to the interval between icons; otherwise, continuous movement is maintained. This automatic parameter adjustment resolves the contradiction by adapting the system behavior to the current operational context.
2Speed
If cursor skips regions between icons, then movement speed improves, but risk of missing icon selection increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the cursor's movement direction and the positions of icons to determine whether skip movement is appropriate. This feedback mechanism ensures that skip mode is only activated when the cursor is moving between icons, not when it might be targeting an icon, thereby maintaining selection accuracy while enabling fast movement when safe.
Solution Approach 2:
The cursor movement mode is dynamically adjusted based on real-time detection of movement direction and icon positions. The system transitions between continuity mode and skip mode depending on the operational context, allowing fast skip movement when appropriate while maintaining slow continuous movement when icon selection precision is needed, thus resolving the speed-reliability contradiction.
3Ease of manufacture
If icons are arranged apart from each other, then visual distinction improves, but cursor navigation difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements skip mode that allows the cursor to rapidly jump over the empty spaces between icons when movement between icons is detected. This skipping mechanism compensates for the large gaps between icons by enabling fast navigation through these spaces, thus maintaining visual distinction while improving navigation efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing apparatus 10 is an information processing apparatus that displays item images GI-1 to GI-6 arranged apart from each other and a cursor CUR on a display 20. The information processing apparatus includes: a receiver 111 configured to receive operation information corresponding to details of a cursor operation of allowing a user to move the cursor CUR; a controller 112 configured to cause the display 20 to display the cursor CUR, based on the operation information; and a determiner 113 configured to, when the operation information includes an instruction to move the cursor CUR from an inside of one item image from among the item images GI-1 to GI-6 to an outside of the one item image, determine whether there is another item image within a predetermined distance from the one item image, the another item image being in a direction of movement of the cursor CUR. When the result made by the determiner 113 is affirmative, the controller 112 is configured to move the cursor CUR to the inside of the other item image by skipping a region between the one item image and the other item image.