Document Area Icon Joining for Multi-Screen Browsing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Users face challenges in efficiently combining and browsing multiple areas of a document across different display environments, such as smartphones and multi-screen devices, where existing methods lack intuitive and effective ways to manage and display marked areas.

Innovation Solution

A method and system that allows users to mark areas in a document, generate icons representing these areas, and combine them by joining these icons, enabling the display of multiple areas in a combined and easily viewable format through user-driven interaction, such as dragging and rotating icons, with the system managing the storage and display of marked areas and joined icons.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If multiple document areas are marked and displayed separately, then each area can be viewed individually, but the user cannot efficiently browse and combine multiple areas across different display environments

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveadaptability to different display environmentsVSAvoidease of combining and browsing multiple areas

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates icon images that are visual copies representing marked document areas. These icons serve as simplified representations that can be easily manipulated and combined, resolving the contradiction by providing an intuitive interface that works across different display environments while maintaining ease of operation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements a nesting mechanism where multiple icon images representing different marked areas can be joined together to form composite icons. This allows users to nest multiple document areas within a single visual representation, enabling efficient browsing across different display environments while maintaining the ability to view individual areas when needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

2Ease of operation

If icons representing marked areas are created and manipulated, then users can visually manage document areas, but the system complexity increases for managing storage and display operations

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveease of visual management of document areasVSAvoidcomplexity of storing and displaying operations

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the essential visual information from marked document areas and represents it as separate icon images. This extraction process simplifies the management complexity by separating the visual representation from the original document structure, making storage and display operations more manageable while maintaining ease of visual management for users.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS11663393B2Combining and displaying multiple document areas

Publication Date: 2023.05.30 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

A method includes storing, in response to marking by a user of an area of a displayed document, information on the marked area; displaying an icon representing the marked area; conducting the storing operation and the displaying operation for a different area; and creating, in response to an operation by the user for arranging two or more icons to be in contact with each other, a joined icon by joining the icons together; and combining marked areas represented by the two or more respective icons, according to a state of contact. A corresponding computer program product and computer system are also disclosed herein.