Mobile Document Annotation Interface Without App Switching
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing document collaboration tools require users to switch between applications for viewing documents and providing comments, which is inconvenient, especially on mobile devices with limited display space.
Innovation Solution
A computing device integrates content viewing and annotation within a single user interface, allowing users to create, modify, and view annotations directly on electronic content, including images, documents, and videos, with the ability to link comments to specific portions of the content and display them seamlessly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users switch between applications to view documents and provide comments, then communication functionality is achieved, but user convenience deteriorates and operation time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines document viewing and annotation/commenting functionalities into a single integrated application interface. Users can view documents and add comments without switching between separate applications, directly resolving the technical contradiction by merging previously separate functions into one unified system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal platform that performs multiple functions including document viewing, annotation, commenting, and collaboration within a single application. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for application switching while maintaining all necessary communication and document management capabilities.
2Ease of operation
If document viewing and annotation are integrated in a single interface, then ease of operation improves, but display space utilization becomes constrained on mobile devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the display into multiple functional regions that can be dynamically adjusted. The document viewing area and annotation area are divided as separate but integrated zones, allowing users to access both functionalities simultaneously without compromising either document visibility or annotation capability within the limited mobile display space.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes spatial arrangement and layering techniques to organize document and annotation elements in a two-dimensional interface. Annotations can be positioned in margins, side panels, or overlaid on the document, effectively using available display space in multiple dimensions rather than requiring linear expansion.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes executing an application at a mobile device to provide a graphical user interface and interact with a content server to display an image stored at the content server on a display of the mobile device; while displaying the image, receiving a first user input for a first annotation to the image based on user interaction with the graphical user interface, the first user input indicating a first region of the image; based on the first user input, displaying a text entry box together with a selection box in the graphical user interface, the selection box defining a region of the image with which the first annotation is to be associated; receiving a first comment via the text entry box; and responsive to second user input, sending the first comment and a location of the selection box to the content server for storage as the first annotation.