Modality View Management on Conversation Canvas

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing communication applications on mobile devices face challenges in providing seamless continuity of user interface components due to limited screen resources and unreliable network connectivity, often resulting in suboptimal user experience.

Innovation Solution

A communication application manages multiple modality views on a conversation canvas, allowing users to switch between collaboration, gallery, and messaging views dynamically, with features like user-to-user communications, participant management, and session retention across views, using a client-server architecture or peer-to-peer communication.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If multiple communication modalities are provided on mobile devices, then user interface functionality is improved, but screen space and system resources are consumed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication modality functionalityVSAvoidscreen space

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSArea of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The communication interface is segmented into multiple independent modality views (messaging view, gallery view, collaboration view), each displaying specific communication functions. This allows the interface to provide comprehensive communication capabilities while organizing content into manageable segments that can be displayed efficiently on limited screen space.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transitions from traditional linear or grid-based layouts to a canvas-based dimensional space where communication modalities are arranged spatially. This allows multiple communication views to coexist in a two-dimensional canvas environment, enabling better utilization of screen real estate and providing intuitive spatial navigation between different communication modalities.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Ease of operation

If seamless continuity is achieved across different views, then user experience is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveview transition continuityVSAvoidinterface management complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Multiple communication modalities and views are merged into a single unified canvas environment. The canvas serves as a common container that hosts different communication views (messaging, gallery, collaboration), allowing seamless transitions between them while maintaining a consistent interface framework and reducing the complexity of managing separate interface systems.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The canvas environment is designed to be dynamic, automatically adapting its layout and content based on user interactions and context. Views can be dynamically added, removed, or repositioned within the canvas, and the interface seamlessly transitions between different communication modalities without requiring complex manual configuration or state management.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

3Adaptability or versatility

If server-based solutions are used to overcome limited local resources, then device capability is improved, but network dependency increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication application capabilityVSAvoidnetwork connectivity reliability

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The communication application is designed with multi-functionality, capable of operating in both server-based and peer-to-peer modes. The same application framework and canvas environment support multiple communication modalities regardless of whether resources are accessed locally or remotely, providing universal functionality that adapts to available network conditions and resource availability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS10491549B2Managing modality views on conversation canvas

Publication Date: 2019.11.26 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

A single communication application can display an initial modality view associated with the group communication on a canvas of a communication application user interface. The initial modality view can be one of multiple available views. The single communication application can receive a selection to display a different from the initial modality view. Each active user in the group communication can be on a different computing device with different active instances of the single communication application which are each configured to switch independently of each other active instances of the single communication application running on different computing devices to modality views that are different from the initial modality view. The communication application can display the selected modality view on the canvas by transitioning from the initial modality view.