Synthesized Icon Handling for Overlapping Allocated Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing display devices cannot handle overlapping allocated areas of icons on an operation screen, limiting user interaction when icons are enlarged and their areas intersect.
Innovation Solution
A display device with a display unit, display control unit, reception unit, and processing unit that enlarges icons, generates synthesized icons by overlapping adjacent icons, and executes functions based on user interactions with these synthesized icons, allowing operations even when allocated areas overlap.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If the icon is enlarged by performing a drag operation, then the icon size increases, but the allocated area overlaps with other icons
Solution Approach 1:
The synthesized icon is divided into multiple regions corresponding to different original icons. Each region maintains its association with the original icon's function, allowing the system to segment the overlapping area into distinguishable zones that preserve individual icon identities and functionalities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of interaction by implementing slide operations that move across the synthesized icon. This adds a temporal and spatial dimension to icon selection, transforming a static 2D overlap problem into a dynamic interaction where the user can navigate through overlapping regions to select desired functions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple icons are arranged on the operation screen, then the functionality increases, but the screen space consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple icons into a single synthesized icon when their allocated areas overlap. This combining approach allows multiple functions to be accessed through a compact representation, reducing the total screen space required while maintaining full functionality. The synthesized icon acts as a container for multiple original icons.
Solution Approach 2:
The synthesized icon serves multiple functions simultaneously, representing and providing access to multiple original icons through a single visual element. This multi-functionality allows the system to pack more functionality into limited screen space by making each icon potentially serve multiple purposes.
3Productivity
If the allocated area of icons is reduced, then the screen space efficiency improves, but the visual recognizability of icons deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts icon display based on interaction state. When icons overlap and form synthesized icons, the display can adapt by highlighting or emphasizing different regions based on the user's slide operation progress, making the currently selectable region visually distinct and easily recognizable despite the compact layout.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs visual differentiation through color or transparency changes in different regions of the synthesized icon. By applying distinct visual properties to different icon regions, the system maintains visual recognizability and distinguishes between overlapping icons even when they share the same physical space.
Data Source
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AI summary
A display device (1) includes a display unit (10), a display control unit (103), a reception unit (102), and a processing unit (101). The display control unit (103) generates a synthesized icon when allocated areas of at least two of a plurality of icons displayed in the display unit (10) overlap. The processing unit (101) executes, when the reception unit (102) receives a slide operation starting from a point in a region of the synthesized icon where the icons overlap, a function associated with the icon displayed at an end point of the slide operation, out of the functions respectively associated with the icons superposed in the region.