Network Navigation System with Shared Session Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for monitoring and filtering content accessed by children on networks lack the ability to provide a shared or joint navigation experience and fail to allow parents to effectively manage and recreate network use sessions for sharing with others, limiting parental control and navigation capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A system that enables multiple users to simultaneously explore a network with a leader who can change, allowing session saving and sharing, and facilitates the creation of 'circles of network friends' for easy content and information sharing, using a custom browser with parental controls and a management server to manage approved content and user activities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If filtering software is provided to block certain websites without a password, then content safety is improved, but navigation capability deteriorates because the child is prevented from defeating the system due to lack of knowledge of the password
Solution Approach 1:
A management server acts as an intermediary between the filtering software and the user. The server stores password-protected filtering rules and provides a web interface that allows users to navigate content safely without needing to know passwords, while the filtering software continues to block inappropriate content in the background.
2Ease of operation
If navigation is geared to individual use and exploring, then personal exploration capability is improved, but shared navigation capability deteriorates because it is not possible to provide a shared or joint navigation experience
Solution Approach 1:
The web interface provides multiple functions in a single system: individual exploration mode for personal use, shared navigation mode for group activities, and session management capabilities. The same interface adapts to different usage scenarios, allowing both personal and shared navigation experiences without requiring separate systems.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a parent wants to monitor or filter information accessed by a child, then content control is improved, but system complexity deteriorates because current personal computing devices do not provide controls for defining usage policies
Solution Approach 1:
The management server serves as an intermediary that handles the complexity of policy management, filtering rules, and session tracking. Parents can define usage policies through a simplified web interface, while the server manages the complex interactions between filtering software, content databases, and multiple users, reducing the perceived complexity for the parent.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback mechanisms to parents through the web interface, allowing them to monitor their child's network usage, view filtered content, and adjust filtering policies. This feedback loop simplifies content control by making the system's behavior transparent and adjustable without requiring parents to understand the underlying complexity.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If filtering software blocks websites without password protection, then content safety is improved, but flexibility deteriorates because the parent cannot easily disable the feature or supply the required password when blocked content is desired
Solution Approach 1:
The management server acts as an intermediary that manages password protection flexibly. Parents can access the web interface to temporarily disable filtering for specific content or supply passwords when needed, without compromising the overall safety provided by the filtering software. The server handles authentication and policy adjustments dynamically.
Data Source
AI summary
The system provides a method and apparatus for navigation and use of a computer network. The system allows multiple users to simultaneously explore a network in groups of two or more. This capability allows one of the users to be a leader of the exploration and the leader can change during the exploration as desired. A user can also save an exploration session and share it with others, so that others can recreate the experience of the first user automatically. The system also allows for the easy creation of circles of network friends where content and information can be easily shared.