Collaborative Graphical Object Locking With User-Color Regions
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current collaborative document processing systems limit true collaborative work and collective intelligence by requiring specialized knowledge, leading to inefficiencies and conflicts due to inflexible locking mechanisms that hinder simultaneous editing by multiple users.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for processing graphically representable objects by multiple users, utilizing VR or AR environments, where users can select and color parts of the object with input devices, and the system automatically locks and unlocks these parts based on user inputs and AI-driven preferences, ensuring simultaneous editing without conflicts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If individual objects are locked for participants during collaborative work, then conflicts in collaboration are reduced, but other participants cannot see their colleagues' editing contributions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the graphically displayable object into multiple selectable regions or parts. Each region can be independently locked by a user, allowing fine-grained control over collaboration. This segmentation enables users to lock specific areas they are working on while leaving other areas visible and editable by colleagues, thus resolving the contradiction between conflict reduction and contribution visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism is made dynamic and temporary rather than static and permanent. Users can lock regions temporarily during their editing sessions, and the lock automatically expires or can be manually released. This dynamic approach ensures that locked regions provide conflict protection only when needed, while automatically becoming visible to colleagues again, thus maintaining both conflict reduction and information visibility.
2Ease of operation
If a locking mechanism is started and stopped by the participant himself, then control flexibility is improved, but long lockout periods occur making it difficult for other participants to unlock needed parts
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where other participants can detect when a region is locked and can actively request its release. The system monitors lock status and provides feedback to both the locking user and requesting users. This feedback loop enables automatic or facilitated unlocking when conflicts arise, reducing unnecessary lockout periods while maintaining user control flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism automatically manages its own state through timeout periods and automatic unlock functions. If a user forgets to release a lock, the system automatically releases it after a predetermined time, eliminating the need for manual intervention. This self-service approach reduces lockout duration while preserving the flexibility of user-initiated locking.
3Stability of the object's composition
If all participants see the same view in collaborative document processing, then representation consistency is improved, but additional human knowledge cannot be effectively used for Knowledge Graph processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent allows each user to have customized views or annotations on specific regions of the graphically displayable object while maintaining an overall consistent representation. Users can add local annotations, highlights, or detailed views on regions they are working on, without affecting the global view consistency. This local quality approach enables diverse human knowledge and specialized perspectives to be incorporated into the collaborative process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds an additional dimension to the collaborative view by allowing users to overlay annotations, comments, or detailed information on specific regions without changing the base representation. This dimensional extension enables multiple users to simultaneously view the same consistent structure while adding their own specialized knowledge and insights as layered information, thus maintaining both view consistency and adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments of the teachings herein include a method for processing a graphically representable object by at least two users. An example includes: importing a file containing the graphically displayable object using a computing device; displaying a respective region of the object on two separate display devices; detecting a first user input performed by a first of said two users via a first input device, wherein a portion of the object is selected by the first user; coloring the part and/or surroundings of the part in a color associated with the first user in the second of the two display devices; blocking the portion of the object against processing by the second user; and removing the color and the blocking upon a predetermined time elapses or based on a second first user input.