Dynamic Link Prominence Adjustment for Web Navigation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Users face difficulty in identifying useful hyperlinks among numerous options on Web pages due to lack of differentiation in display, making it hard to remember which links are frequently used or less useful, especially as lists grow in size.
Innovation Solution
A method that adjusts the prominence of links based on user interaction, such as hover, click-through, and feedback, where frequently used links become more prominent and less used links become less prominent, using a system that tracks user interaction and modifies display parameters automatically.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If links are displayed with uniform prominence, then the display is simple and consistent, but users cannot easily identify useful links among numerous options
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making link prominence dynamic rather than static. Links automatically adjust their visual prominence based on user interaction history, transitioning from uniform display to differentiated display over time. This resolves the contradiction by enabling easy identification of useful links through adaptive prominence while maintaining system simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where user interactions (clicks, hovers) with links are tracked and used to modify the prominence of those links and related links in subsequent displays. This feedback loop enables the system to learn from user behavior and automatically differentiate useful links, resolving the identification difficulty without requiring complex manual configuration.
2Ease of operation
If links are differentiated by prominence based on usage, then useful links become easier to identify, but the system requires tracking and modifying display parameters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by enabling the system to automatically track user interactions and adjust link prominence without external intervention or centralized management. The system serves itself by using user behavior data to autonomously differentiate links, resolving the contradiction between ease of identification and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by modifying display parameters (such as color, size, or positioning) of links based on their usage frequency and user interaction history. This allows the system to differentiate useful links through simple visual parameter adjustments rather than complex structural changes, maintaining simplicity while improving identifiability.
3Reliability
If links are displayed without prominence variation, then the display remains consistent and simple, but users struggle to remember which links are frequently used
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes link display dynamic by varying prominence based on usage patterns, enabling users to reliably remember and identify useful links through visual differentiation. The system automatically adapts display characteristics over time, resolving the contradiction between memory reliability and display complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent specifically employs color changes as one of the display parameters to differentiate link prominence. Frequently used links are displayed in different colors or with color variations compared to less used links, providing users with reliable visual memory cues while maintaining relatively simple display variation mechanisms.
4Ease of operation
If centralized management is used to predict link paths, then link prominence can be controlled, but the system requires centralized prediction and management infrastructure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces centralized prediction with distributed feedback mechanisms where individual user interactions with links are tracked and processed locally or peer-to-peer. This feedback-driven approach eliminates the need for centralized prediction infrastructure while maintaining or improving link path prediction accuracy through collective user behavior data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies self-service by enabling the system to automatically learn and adapt link prominence based on actual user interactions without requiring centralized management or prediction algorithms. The system serves itself by using real-time user behavior data to dynamically adjust display, resolving the contradiction between prediction accuracy and management complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Links in a system may be displayed at varying prominence based on user interaction with the links. Link paths chosen by users become apparent by virtue of display prominence of the links. A link may be displayed with greater or lesser prominence corresponding to the propensity of users to interact with the link. Prominence values that affect a prominence at which links are displayed may be modified based on user interaction information. Prominence values may further automatically decay, possibly over time or according to user interaction with the links. Using and modifying prominence values in this manner, links that emerge with greater prominence may form one or more “paths” that users can readily follow. Much as in the natural world where pheromones deposited by ants attract other ants to desirable paths, user interaction information can be advantageously used to automatically identify more desirable link paths to a resource.