Multilayer Mobile App Interface Snapshot Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices typically allow only a single application to be active at a time, limiting users' ability to access and navigate between multiple application features or views simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A multilayer mobile app interface is implemented, allowing users to capture and store snapshots of application pages, enabling quick navigation between views by docking these snapshots in a tray area, which can be accessed via a 3D effect at the bottom of the screen, and using stored state information to regenerate pages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If only a single application view is allowed to be active at a time, then system simplicity is maintained, but user productivity and accessibility to multiple features deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The application interface is segmented into multiple independent layers, each representing a different view or feature. These layers can be independently managed, accessed, and navigated, allowing users to work with multiple features simultaneously without conflating their states.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a vertical stacking dimension to the traditional single-plane interface. Layers are arranged in a stack, with the active layer at the top and inactive layers beneath it. This spatial organization allows multiple views to coexist without increasing horizontal interface complexity.
2Ease of operation
If multiple application views are made accessible simultaneously, then user accessibility improves, but navigation complexity and interface complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Inactive layers are pre-rendered and maintained in memory with their state information preserved. This preliminary action eliminates the need to regenerate pages when users navigate between views, enabling instant transitions and improving ease of navigation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates visual representations (snapshots) of each layer that can be displayed in a tray area. These copies allow users to see and select between different views without leaving the current context, simplifying navigation while maintaining access to multiple features.
3Loss of time
If page state information is stored and reused, then navigation speed improves, but memory usage and system resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies selective state preservation, maintaining detailed state information only for layers that are recently active or likely to be accessed. Less frequently used layers can use simplified or compressed state representations, optimizing memory usage while preserving navigation speed for commonly accessed views.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and techniques to display app content are disclosed. In various embodiments, an indication is received to save an application page. An image of the application page and associated application state information are stored. The image and state information may be used to provide a user-navigable interface that enables a user to navigate back to the saved page.