Seamless Transition Across Discontinuous Touch Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
The presence of a gap between two distinct display areas in a user interface creates an interruption, making it difficult to utilize them as a single display area.
Innovation Solution
A display controller is used to control the display of a user interface element that is movable across the interface between the two display areas, along with an interface effect that indicates to the user the element's movability, thereby seamlessly integrating the areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If two distinct display areas are separated by an interface (gap), then each display area can be independently controlled and manufactured, but the gap creates a visual interruption that prevents them from being used as a single unified display area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an interface effect as a visual mediator between the two display areas. This interface effect includes transition region indicators that visually bridge the gap, allowing users to perceive the discontinuous display areas as a continuous unified space while maintaining the physical separation for manufacturing purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs color and luminance changes in the interface effect to create a seamless visual transition across the gap. By adjusting the visual properties of the interface effect to match adjacent display areas, the gap becomes imperceptible, enabling unified display area usability while preserving independent manufacturing capabilities.
2Loss of information
If an interface effect is displayed to indicate element movability across the gap, then user understanding of element behavior is improved, but additional display resources and processing are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements the interface effect partially, displaying it only in the transition region where elements are being moved across the gap, rather than across the entire display area. This reduces the energy and processing requirements while still providing sufficient visual feedback to users about element movability.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface effect is dynamically adjusted based on user interaction. It appears or intensifies when elements are being moved across the gap and diminishes or disappears when no movement is occurring, optimizing resource usage while maintaining user understanding of element behavior during critical moments.
Data Source
Figure 1~2C
Figure 3~5
AI summary
An apparatus comprising: a first display area;a second display area; and an interface separating the first display area from the second display area; and a display controller configured to control display of a user interface element in a first configuration when the user interface element is movable across the interface from the first display area to the second display area and a first criteria dependent upon a distance of the user interface element from the interface is satisfied and is configured to control display of the user interface element in a second configuration, different to the first configuration, when the user interface element is movable across the interface from the first display area to the second display area and the first criteria concerning a distance of the user interface element from the interface is not satisfied.