Map Calendar GUI With Content-Variable View Levels

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional electronic calendar applications present time in a rigid format that does not accurately represent users' experiences, as they view time as a complex combination of experiences rather than mere summations of days or weeks, leading to inefficient interaction and optimization of schedules.

Innovation Solution

A map calendar application with a graphical user interface (GUI) that provides content-variable view levels, allowing calendar content items to be explicitly associated with specific units of time, enabling flexible and seamless interaction by allowing items to be associated with one or more specific view levels without being associated with others, and enabling real-time shifting and manipulation of time units.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If conventional electronic calendar applications present time in a rigid format, then the structure is simple and easy to implement, but it does not accurately represent users' experiences with time leading to inefficient interaction

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveadaptability to user experienceVSAvoidcalendar structure complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The calendar application implements dynamic view levels that automatically adjust based on user interactions, zoom operations, and time unit manipulations. The system transitions from static day/week/month views to dynamic content-variable views where the displayed content adapts to user needs, resolving the contradiction between rigid structure and user experience adaptability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the fundamental parameters of calendar display by introducing content-variable view levels where the same time unit can display different content based on user-defined associations. This allows the calendar to adapt to user experiences without fundamentally changing the underlying data structure, balancing adaptability with implementation simplicity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Adaptability or versatility

If calendar content items are associated with multiple view levels, then information completeness is improved, but user flexibility and efficiency deteriorate due to inability to hide/show content selectively

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent visibility controlVSAvoidschedule optimization efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements local quality by allowing different content items to have different visibility properties at different view levels. Users can associate specific content with specific view levels, enabling selective hiding and showing of content based on the current view, thus improving both adaptability and ease of operation

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The calendar system segments content visibility by view level, allowing independent control of what content appears at each level. This segmentation enables users to optimize their workflow by hiding irrelevant content at certain views while maintaining information completeness across different view levels

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Manufacturing precision

If the calendar provides detailed granular organization of time units, then scheduling precision is improved, but interaction complexity increases making the interface less user-friendly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvescheduling precisionVSAvoidinterface complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system provides dynamic granularity control where users can zoom in and out to access different levels of time detail. The interface automatically adjusts its complexity based on the current zoom level, providing fine-grained scheduling precision when needed while maintaining simplicity at overview levels

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent adds a temporal dimension to the interface complexity by organizing details across different time scales. Users navigate from coarse-grained views to fine-grained views along the time dimension, allowing detailed scheduling precision without permanently increasing interface complexity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentUS11681424B2Map calendar graphical user interface with content-variable view levels

Publication Date: 2023.06.20 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

A computer-implemented method for implementing a map calendar graphical user interface (GUI) including content-variable view levels is described herein. The method includes executing a map calendar application to provide a map calendar GUI surfaced on a display. The map calendar GUI includes interactive visualizations of a map calendar that are organized into content-variable view levels that relate to specific units of time. The method also includes displaying, via the surfaced map calendar GUI, interactive visualizations of different content-variable view levels such that non-level-specific calendar content items are displayed with respect to all content-variable view levels that encompass the time fragments corresponding to the non-level-specific calendar content items, while level-specific calendar content items are only displayed with respect to one or more content-variable view levels to which the level-specific calendar content items have been specifically linked, as determined by one or more user inputs.