Declarative Interface Layout Using Relative Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge lies in creating a cross-platform framework for interactive user interfaces that can display additional content alongside video streams across various computing platforms, such as gaming consoles, smart televisions, and mobile devices, while adhering to different operating systems and user interface generation rules, which is complicated by the variation in layout, characteristics, and restrictions on code injection.
Innovation Solution
A declarative cross-platform framework is introduced, using platform-independent commands expressed in JSON to define virtual surfaces, allowing for the creation of interactive user interfaces without injecting code into streaming applications. This framework employs runtime components specific to each platform, utilizing native toolkits and cross-platform widget libraries to render interfaces consistently across different devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If code injection is used to create interactive user interfaces on different platforms, then interface functionality can be achieved, but platform-specific restrictions and compatibility issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a declarative interface definition language as an intermediary between the developer's intent and the platform-specific implementation. This intermediate representation layer allows interfaces to be defined once in a platform-independent manner and then translated to various platform-specific implementations, eliminating the need for code injection on each platform while maintaining cross-platform compatibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the user interface creation process into distinct layers: a platform-independent declarative definition layer and platform-specific rendering layers. This segmentation allows each layer to handle its specific concerns independently, with the declarative layer focusing on interface structure and behavior definitions, while platform-specific layers handle the actual rendering and interaction, thereby reducing overall system complexity.
2Manufacturing precision
If platform-specific native toolkits are used for each device, then interface rendering accuracy is improved, but development complexity and maintenance burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal declarative interface definition that can be rendered across multiple platforms. This single interface definition serves multiple functions by being translated into different platform-specific implementations, allowing the same interface logic to work on mobile devices, desktops, tablets, and other platforms without requiring separate development efforts for each.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes in the declarative interface definition to adapt the same interface structure to different platforms. By modifying parameters such as layout constraints, interaction models, and rendering properties in the declarative definition, the system can generate platform-appropriate interfaces from a single source, maintaining rendering consistency while reducing development complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If interactive elements are added to enhance viewer experience, then user engagement increases, but processing requirements and device resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic interaction where interface elements can adapt their behavior and resource consumption based on device capabilities and user context. Interactive elements are defined declaratively with configurable interaction models that can be adjusted to match the processing power and energy constraints of different devices, allowing rich interactivity on powerful devices while maintaining functionality on resource-constrained devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A declarative cross-platform framework for interactive user interfaces is described herein. Commands may define a virtual surface for display in a plurality of streaming applications executing across a plurality of computing platforms. The commands may be expressed in a declarative format that allows the virtual surface to be defined without injecting code into the plurality of streaming applications. The commands may indicate a first position within the virtual surface for display of a display item, and the first position may be expressed based on relative amounts of positional attributes that are relative to total amounts of the positional attributes for the virtual surface in its entirety. The streaming applications may host framework runtime components for respective computing platforms on which the streaming applications execute. The framework runtime components may use the commands to generate respective rendering instructions for rendering the virtual surface on their respective computing platforms.