Multi-Window Graphic Component Selection Interface
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing component ordering systems for building systems, such as security, fire safety, and HVAC systems, are often text-driven and present a non-intuitive, cluttered display, making it difficult for users to select appropriate components from a large number of choices.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that employs a multi-window display with graphic elements to facilitate the selection of components, allowing users to interactively select product types and parameters, filtering a database to provide a list of compatible components, and enabling features like tagging and sorting for enhanced user experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a text-driven interface is used for component selection, then the system can handle a large number of component options, but the display becomes cluttered and non-intuitive
Solution Approach 1:
The interface is divided into multiple windows, each serving a specific function: a schedule window for component lists, a product type select window for category selection, and a product window for detailed component selection. This segmentation allows the system to handle numerous components while maintaining an organized, intuitive display structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a traditional single-screen text interface to a multi-window graphical interface that utilizes spatial arrangement and visual hierarchy. Graphic elements and icons represent different component types and parameters, transforming the flat text-based interaction into a multi-dimensional visual exploration space that improves intuitiveness while maintaining comprehensive component selection capability.
2Ease of operation
If a multi-window display with graphic elements is used, then the user experience becomes more intuitive, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The multi-window interface uses standardized graphic elements and consistent interaction patterns across all windows. The same types of icons, selection mechanisms, and display formats are reused throughout the interface, allowing the system to maintain high intuitiveness while managing complexity through standardized, multi-functional design elements that serve multiple purposes across different windows.
Data Source
AI summary
A method generates an output identifying components for a system, each of the components having one of a plurality of types, each of the components defined by a plurality of specifications. The method includes employing a network interface to receive a selection tool into a computer system memory. The method further includes executing the selection tool on a processing device to: open a multi-window display that includes a schedule window, a product type select window, and a product window; display a menu of a plurality of graphic elements; receive a user input selecting a first graphic element from the menu; update the multi-window display to display the menu of the plurality of graphic elements without the first graphic element and to display the first graphic element in the product type select window; and filter a component database to identify components having a component type corresponding to the first graphic element.