Soft Keyboard Task Management Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The absence of workflows in messaging applications makes managing business tasks cumbersome, leading to users abandoning separate task management applications and affecting task tracking, as tasks become intertwined with conversations.
Innovation Solution
A soft keyboard application with task management features is integrated into messaging applications, allowing users to create, manage, and view tasks without leaving the messaging platform, by outputting a user input region, suggestion region, and selection region within the keyboard, and invoking task actions that can be created or modified within the same or remote task management applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users rely on separate task management applications, then task management functionality is available, but users must toggle between applications which reduces usage and affects task tracking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates task management functionality directly into the messaging application by incorporating a task management element within the soft keyboard. This allows users to create, manage, and track tasks without leaving the messaging application, effectively merging two previously separate functions into a single unified interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The soft keyboard is designed to serve multiple functions: it acts as both a traditional text input keyboard and a task management interface. The task management element can be activated within the keyboard to provide task creation, management, and tracking capabilities while maintaining the keyboard's primary text input function, making the system versatile and multi-functional.
2Adaptability or versatility
If tasks are managed within messaging applications without workflows, then task management is integrated, but task tracking becomes cumbersome and tasks become part of conversations
Solution Approach 1:
The task management element is segmented into distinct functional regions: a user input region for entering task details, a suggestion region for selecting pre-configured parameters, and a user selection region for creating, managing, or viewing tasks. This segmentation organizes the integrated task management functionality into manageable, easily accessible components within the keyboard interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The soft keyboard acts as an intermediary interface between the user and the task management system. It provides a dedicated task management element that mediates between casual messaging and structured task tracking, allowing users to manage tasks systematically while remaining within the messaging application context.
3Productivity
If a soft keyboard with task management element is integrated, then task management is seamless within the application, but the keyboard interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The soft keyboard dynamically adapts its interface based on user needs. The task management element can be activated or deactivated, and the keyboard transitions between standard text input mode and task management mode. This dynamic behavior allows the keyboard to provide enhanced functionality when needed while maintaining simplicity during normal messaging operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyboard provides task management capabilities selectively rather than requiring full task management functionality to be always active. Users can access task management features partially when needed through the integrated element, without the overhead of a complete separate task management application interface being constantly present.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides examples which describe systems and methods associated with a computing device that might have one or more processors and a presence-sensitive display, which will execute a keyboard application to output a soft keyboard including a plurality of keys and a task management element; receive an indication of a selection of the task management element, and, responsive to receiving the indication of the selection of the task management element, output, within the soft keyboard, different methods for the user to allow for the input, selection and viewing of tasks. The keyboard application may, based on an indication of the selection of the method used, create and modify tasks, and in some cases, allow the user to view tasks within the soft keyboard. Other examples are also described.