Modular Master-Slave Device System for Reducing Hardware Redundancy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face redundancy and inefficiency in using multiple devices for different form factors and platforms, such as smartphones and tablets, due to overlapping hardware and software functionalities, and inadequate data synchronization, leading to redundant features and increased power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A modular system where a master device can combine with slave devices to transform into various functional electronic devices, sharing control, hardware, and software to reduce redundancy and enhance functionalities across different form factors and platforms, with the master device requiring a peripheral component like a display module to function and the slave devices being 'dumb' units with limited processing power.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users purchase multiple devices (smartphone and tablet) to have convenience of smartphone for telecommunication and enhanced display of tablet, then user convenience and functionality are improved, but device redundancy and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The master device is designed with universal compatibility to function as both a standalone smartphone and as a control unit for tablets. The system allows one device to perform multiple functions that traditionally required separate devices, eliminating the need for users to purchase both a smartphone and a tablet while maintaining the convenience of telecommunication and the enhanced display capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the functionality of a smartphone and a tablet into a single integrated system. The master device combines telecommunication capabilities with tablet display and processing capabilities, creating a unified device that eliminates redundancy and reduces the total number of devices needed while providing enhanced functionality.
2Reliability
If similar applications are loaded in both devices to ensure full functionality when switching, then operational consistency is improved, but data synchronization complexity and redundancy increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring users to manually load and synchronize applications and data between separate devices, the system creates a virtual copy of the master device's functionality within the tablet environment. This allows the tablet to replicate smartphone applications and data without requiring complex synchronization processes, maintaining operational consistency while reducing synchronization complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a software intermediary layer that facilitates seamless data sharing and application execution between the master device and the tablet. This intermediary manages data consistency and application deployment automatically, reducing the complexity of data synchronization while ensuring operational consistency across different form factors.
3Adaptability or versatility
If master device combines with slave devices to transform into different form factors, then functionality and adaptability are improved, but device complexity and control management increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the electronic device into a master device and one or more slave devices, where the master device contains the core processing unit, operating system, and control software. The slave devices contain only the necessary peripheral components for specific form factors. This segmentation simplifies control management by centralizing intelligence in the master device while keeping slave devices simple, enabling easy transformation between different form factors.
Data Source
AI summary
A modular system of devices, in which a (master) device can be combined with one or more of the other (slave) devices in the system to form a functional electronic device (e.g., handheld cellular phone, tablet computing device), having different functionalities and features in different form factors across various platforms. The master device provides control and/or stored data to operate the slave devices, to reduce redundancy between devices of various form factors and/or platforms, in a manner that provides additional or different functions and features in an optimized and/or enhanced manner as the form factor and/or platform changes from one to another. The master device is not functional independent without attachment to a slave device. The master device requires at least a peripheral component (e.g., a display module) provided by the slave device to become an overall functional unit.