Quick Navigation Interface for Integrated Application Programs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users navigating integrated software solutions with multiple application programs face difficulties in remembering the paths and specific application programs providing desired functions, leading to increased network bandwidth consumption and processing resource load, with unidirectional navigation limitations.
Innovation Solution
A system that monitors user navigation between interconnected application programs, captures relevant information, and generates a list of navigational paths with links to target functions, which are displayed when a cursor is positioned over a predetermined area, allowing users to easily access frequently used functions with minimal effort and bidirectional navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users navigate through multiple application programs to access desired functions, then the integrated software solution provides comprehensive functionality, but users must remember complex navigation paths and application locations, increasing operational difficulty
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-generates and stores navigational paths to frequently accessed functions before users need them. When a user hovers over the quick navigation area, pre-computed paths are immediately displayed, eliminating the need for users to manually navigate through multiple application programs and remember complex paths.
Solution Approach 2:
A quick navigation interface is introduced as an intermediary between the user and the complex integrated software solution. This intermediate layer captures user hover actions and displays pre-computed navigational paths, serving as a mediator that simplifies access to functions without requiring users to directly navigate through the complex application structure.
2Productivity
If users repeatedly navigate through the same application programs, then desired functions can be accessed, but network bandwidth and processing resources are consumed unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
Navigational paths are pre-computed and stored in the system before users need them. When users access frequently used functions, the pre-existing paths enable direct navigation, eliminating repeated traversal through intermediate application programs and reducing unnecessary network traffic and processing overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates and stores copies of navigational path information for frequently accessed functions. Instead of requiring users to repeatedly traverse the same application paths, the system uses stored path copies to enable direct navigation, reducing network bandwidth consumption and processing resource usage.
3Ease of operation
If the system provides direct access to frequently used functions, then user effort is reduced, but the system must monitor and store navigation information, increasing device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically monitors user navigation patterns and self-generates navigational paths without requiring external configuration or manual intervention. The monitoring component captures user actions, and the system autonomously processes this information to create and update navigational paths, reducing the need for complex manual setup while providing direct access to frequently used functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback loop where user navigation actions are monitored and fed back into the system. This feedback is processed to automatically update and refine navigational paths, allowing the system to adapt to user behavior patterns and improve direct access to functions while managing complexity through automated feedback processing.
4Ease of operation
If navigation paths are displayed continuously, then users can easily access functions, but the user interface becomes cluttered and less efficient
Solution Approach 1:
The quick navigation interface is designed as a dynamic, on-demand display rather than a continuous static element. It appears only when users hover over the predetermined quick navigation area and disappears when the hover action ends, allowing the interface to adapt its visibility based on user interaction and maintaining cleanliness when not in use while providing easy access when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A client device facilitates user navigation through a plurality of separate, but intercommunicating application programs that make up an integrated solution, to allow the user to perform desired functions or actions associated with those application programs using minimal effort. In particular, the user's navigation between the application programs are monitored as the user navigates the application programs to perform or invoke a desired function. Information related to the navigation to, and invocation of, the desired function is then stored for subsequent use in creating a list of navigational paths for the user. The navigational paths comprise hyperlinks to the desired functions that, when selected by the user, will navigate the user directly to the desired functions. The navigational paths may be ranked according to their frequency of use by the user.