Menu Navigation Interface With Visible Path History
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional user interfaces in scientific instrumentation and industrial processes face inefficiencies and complexities, particularly in navigating menu-driven systems where the path of menu items is not visible, and integrating data from instrumentation with post-processing systems is cumbersome and requires extensive software development.
Innovation Solution
A graphical user interface system that displays current and past menu choices concurrently, allowing users to navigate through menu hierarchies efficiently by presenting a limited number of active choices and historical options, with features like rotating wheels or sliders to minimize visual clutter and streamline navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a menu-driven system is used to present options to users, then the system can provide structured control and organization, but the path of menu items taken becomes invisible and users cannot see previous selections or alternative options
Solution Approach 1:
The user interface is segmented into multiple visible portions: a current menu display area and a path history display area. This segmentation allows simultaneous presentation of active options and historical selections without overwhelming the user, resolving the contradiction by making both current and past menu states visible through spatial division of the interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a temporal dimension to the menu interface by displaying path history alongside current menu options. Instead of sequentially replacing menus, the system uses a multi-dimensional layout where users can view both the current menu level and the path taken to reach it, transforming a one-dimensional sequential navigation into a two-dimensional simultaneous display.
2Loss of information
If all menu options are displayed at once, then users have complete information available, but the interface becomes cluttered and difficult to navigate
Solution Approach 1:
The interface segments menu options into hierarchical levels, displaying only the current level's options prominently while providing access to other levels through the path history. This segmentation prevents visual clutter by showing a limited number of active choices at any given time, while still maintaining access to the complete menu structure through the displayed path.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the path history from the current menu display and presents it as a separate, condensed representation. This extraction allows users to see alternative options and previous selections without those elements competing for visual space with the current menu options, thereby reducing interface complexity while preserving information completeness.
3Adaptability or versatility
If extensive software development is performed to integrate instrumentation data with post-processing systems, then data integration capability is achieved, but development time and resource requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The graphical user interface system provides universal data integration capabilities that work across multiple instrumentation types and post-processing applications through standardized communication protocols. This multi-functionality allows the same interface framework to handle diverse data sources and destinations, achieving broad adaptability without requiring custom software development for each integration scenario.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a standardized interface layer that acts as an intermediary between instrumentation systems and post-processing systems. This mediator handles data translation and communication protocols, enabling integration between different systems without requiring extensive custom development. The interface layer absorbs the complexity of integration details, allowing rapid deployment of data workflows.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of interactively navigating a user through a path of menu choices on a user interface may include displaying a current menu of choices on a first portion of a user interface display. The user interface allows for selecting of a menu item from the current menu of choices and to drill down through levels of menu choices based on selecting a menu item from a prior level of menu choices. A second portion of the user interface display presents past selected and past unselected menu items of the drilled-down levels. The past unselected menu items are displayed as selectable options. The user interface allows for jumping to a different path of menu choices by selecting a past unselected menu item from a previously navigated menu level displayed on the second portion of the user interface display.