Mobile Design Pattern Viewer for Hierarchical Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Software developers face challenges in navigating and understanding design patterns for mobile applications due to limited screen space and resource constraints, as existing alphabetical lists fail to provide clear hierarchical relationships and interactions between patterns.
Innovation Solution
A mobile design pattern viewer system that organizes and visualizes design patterns in logical groupings, using an expandable tree interface with animations and colored lines to highlight relationships, allowing users to understand how individual patterns interact with others.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If design patterns are organized in alphabetical lists, then patterns can be easily located by name, but hierarchical relationships and interactions between patterns cannot be clearly understood
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the design pattern information into multiple hierarchical levels and categories. Patterns are organized into category groups (e.g., structural, behavioral, creational) with subcategories, allowing users to navigate by both alphabetical order within categories and by hierarchical relationships between categories. This segmentation enables simultaneous access to name-based lookup and relationship-based understanding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a hierarchical dimension to the traditional flat alphabetical listing. By organizing patterns into multiple levels (categories, subcategories, individual patterns) and displaying them in a tree-like structure with expandable nodes, the system preserves alphabetical navigation while simultaneously revealing hierarchical relationships and interactions between patterns that exist in this new dimensional organization.
2Loss of information
If detailed visualizations of all pattern relationships are provided, then user understanding improves, but screen space consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic visualization system where the display adapts based on user interaction. Expandable tree nodes allow users to progressively reveal detailed pattern relationships only when needed. Animations dynamically illustrate pattern interactions on demand, rather than continuously occupying screen space. This dynamic approach provides comprehensive visualizations when required while maintaining screen efficiency during normal navigation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent provides partial visualizations by default, showing only the essential hierarchical structure and category groupings. Detailed visualizations of pattern interactions and relationships are provided partially - only when users expand specific nodes or select particular patterns for detailed viewing. This partial action approach ensures that screen space is efficiently used for primary navigation while detailed visualizations are available when needed without permanently consuming excessive space.
3Loss of information
If design patterns are grouped into categories, then relationships between patterns become clearer, but navigation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex pattern library into manageable category groups and subcategories. Each category represents a logical grouping of patterns with similar characteristics or functions. This segmentation reduces navigation complexity by organizing patterns into smaller, more manageable units that users can explore systematically rather than facing the overwhelming complexity of the entire pattern library at once.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces category groups and subcategories as intermediary layers between the user and individual design patterns. These intermediaries serve as organizational structures that simplify navigation by grouping related patterns together. The expandable tree structure acts as an intermediary interface that manages the complexity of pattern relationships while providing clear pathways for users to explore patterns systematically.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is an improved approach for implementing a method, system, and computer program product for utilizing design patterns, which provides an improved approach for organizing, navigating and/or visualizing design patterns. This approach may be embodied as a mobile design pattern viewer. The current approach presents design patterns in logical groupings, allows visualization of individual patterns, and highlights relationships. This permits organization, navigation, and/or visualization of the design patterns, where a collection of patterns work together as an integrated set that enables users to understand how an individual pattern relates to other patterns.