Display Control Circuit for Mobile Device Page Change Notification

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Solution Overview

Problem

Mobile electronic devices with small displays struggle to notify users of dynamic content changes on webpages, as only a portion of the webpage is visible, leading to missed updates in areas not currently displayed.

Innovation Solution

A mobile electronic device with a display control circuit that registers events potentially leading to changes, checks if the change affects unseen parts of the page, and notifies the user through visual or auditory means, allowing the user to opt to view the updated area.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If dynamic content updates are implemented on webpages, then information freshness is improved, but user awareness of updates deteriorates when changes occur in non-displayed areas

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation freshnessVSAvoiduser awareness of updates
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements a feedback mechanism where the display control circuit continuously monitors for content changes and provides feedback to the user through notifications. When dynamic content is updated in a non-displayed area, the system detects this change and feeds back information to the user via a notification message, ensuring the user is aware of the update without requiring continuous viewing of the entire page.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary monitoring of content changes before the user would naturally notice them. The display control circuit proactively checks for changes in non-displayed areas and prepares notification messages in advance, so that when a user does scroll or interact with the page, they are immediately informed of relevant updates that occurred while they were viewing other portions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Productivity

If only the visible portion of the webpage is monitored for changes, then processing efficiency is improved, but completeness of change detection deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprocessing efficiencyVSAvoidchange detection completeness
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the webpage into displayed and non-displayed portions, and implements a hierarchical monitoring approach. The display control circuit monitors all content changes across the entire webpage, but only generates notifications for changes occurring in non-displayed areas. This segmentation allows efficient processing by focusing notification resources on the specific subset of changes that would otherwise go unnoticed by the user.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Loss of information

If notifications for all content changes are displayed, then user awareness is improved, but display clutter and user distraction increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveuser awarenessVSAvoiddisplay clutter and distraction
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The notification system applies local quality by differentiating between changes in displayed and non-displayed areas. Instead of treating all changes uniformly, the system selectively notifies users only about changes in non-displayed areas. This localized approach ensures that notifications are provided where they are most needed (to prevent information loss) while avoiding unnecessary notifications for changes already visible to the user, thereby reducing display clutter and user distraction.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP2332076B1Mobile electronic device
Publication Date: 2012.07.04 SONY ERICSSON MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS AB
  • EP2332076B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2332076B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2332076B1 patent drawingFigure 3A

AI summary

Embodiments of mobile electronic devices and methods are disclosed. In an embodiment of a method, a page is partially displayed on a display, and information is received that the page is changed in a part of said page not displayed on said display. In an embodiment, a user is notified of said change.