Facility Search Apparatus Category Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional navigation systems require users to repeatedly select categories and perform searches to determine if facilities are within a certain distance, leading to cumbersome operations and prolonged search times, especially over low-speed network connections.
Innovation Solution
A facility search apparatus and method that includes facility-information storing, search-point identification, in-category-facility search, and category display means to quickly determine if facilities are within each category, reducing the need for unnecessary operations and improving user experience by displaying category information based on search results, including visual cues like colors to indicate facility presence and proximity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the user repeatedly selects categories and performs searches to determine facility presence, then the search can be executed, but the operation becomes cumbersome and search time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary searches for all categories simultaneously before displaying them to the user. The category display unit shows which categories have facilities within the search area before the user makes a selection, so the user doesn't need to repeatedly search to check if facilities exist in a category.
Solution Approach 2:
The category display unit provides visual feedback to the user indicating which categories contain facilities within the search area. This feedback mechanism allows the user to immediately see which categories are valid options without performing additional searches, reducing unnecessary operations.
2Loss of information
If the system waits for search results before displaying categories, then accurate information is provided, but communication time and costs increase over low-speed networks
Solution Approach 1:
The facility search unit performs preliminary searches for all categories simultaneously in advance, before the user needs to make a selection. This preliminary action obtains accurate information about facility presence in all categories upfront, eliminating the need for repeated communication cycles over the low-speed network.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges multiple individual category searches into a single simultaneous search operation. Instead of searching for each category separately (which would require multiple network communications), all category searches are performed together in one operation, reducing total communication time and costs.
3Productivity
If the user selects a category without knowing facility presence, then the search process continues, but unnecessary operations are performed
Solution Approach 1:
The category display unit displays information about facility presence in each category before the user selects a category. This preliminary display of information allows the user to make an informed selection in one step, eliminating the need for trial-and-error searching and reducing the number of operation steps.
Data Source
AI summary
A server stores facility information about a plurality of facilities to be searched for, in association with categories representing the facilities, and performs a search to determine whether or not each category contains any facility located within a predetermined area including the search point. A navigation system displays, based on search results from the server, the categories serving as search conditions in a manner such that whether or not there is any facility within each category is identifiable. For example, an image representing a category may be set not to be displayed when there is no facility within the category. Thus, based on the display status of each category, the user can identify whether or not there is any facility within each category at the time when categories to be searched are displayed.