Scheduling GUI with Dynamic Time Slot Detail Levels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for scheduling tasks are limited in displaying available time slots, restricting users' choices and increasing network bandwidth, processing, and storage usage, as they cannot efficiently identify and display acceptable time slots for new tasks.
Innovation Solution
A system that filters and analyzes existing tasks based on priority and deadline to identify movable tasks, allowing users to reassign them to alternative time slots, thereby making previously unavailable slots available for new tasks, using a controller to generate criteria for time slots and modify the scheduling data structure accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If the GUI displays graphical objects for all time slots, then users have complete information about all available slots, but network bandwidth, processing and storage sources, and system load increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by displaying different levels of information detail in different regions of the GUI. The current time slot shows complete task information, while future time slots show only aggregated summaries. This selective information display provides users with necessary details at the current moment while reducing overall data transmission and processing requirements for future slots.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the time slot information into hierarchical levels: current slot details, future slot summaries, and aggregated statistics. This segmentation allows the system to transmit and process only essential information for each time period, reducing network bandwidth usage and storage requirements while maintaining user awareness of the complete schedule.
2Productivity
If the GUI displays graphical objects for some time slots only, then network bandwidth and processing sources are reduced, but users are limited in their choices and cannot see all available slots
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic information display where the level of detail automatically adjusts based on the time slot's proximity to the current time. As users navigate through time slots, the GUI dynamically loads and displays appropriate levels of information - detailed views for selectable slots and summary views for distant slots. This dynamic adaptation maintains user choice capability while optimizing system resource usage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary analysis and filtering of time slot data to identify and display only the most relevant information for each time period. By pre-processing the schedule data to determine which slots have available capacity versus fully booked slots, the system can present optimized information that guides user decision-making without displaying all raw data, thus balancing user choice with system efficiency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If existing tasks are moved to alternative time slots to make slots available for new tasks, then user choices for scheduling increase, but the complexity of managing and updating the scheduling data structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separates the task relocation logic from the main scheduling data structure. When a new task needs to be scheduled, the system extracts tasks from their current time slots and places them in a temporary holding structure, then reassigns them to alternative slots. This extraction approach simplifies the data structure manipulation by isolating the complex relocation operations into discrete, manageable steps rather than requiring complex in-place modifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary data structure that acts as a buffer between the original scheduling data and the modified scheduling data. This intermediary layer handles the complexity of task relocation, deadline verification, and conflict resolution, allowing the main scheduling structure to remain relatively simple while still supporting flexible task movement and reassignment operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with controlling a display screen for scheduling tasks with graphical objects are described. In one embodiment, a method includes in response to receiving a request to modify a scheduling data structure, determining that the request is directed towards scheduling a first task. The example method may also include analyzing the scheduling data structure to identify candidate time slots usable to satisfy the request. The example method may also include controlling a display screen to display graphical objects that correspond to the candidate time slots. The example method may also include in response to receiving user input, via a graphical object, that selects a first time slot from the candidate time slots, generating a set of scheduling instructions.