Tilt-Based Calendar Navigation on Portable Devices
Solution Overview
Problem
Small display sizes on portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, make it difficult for users to navigate and comprehend dense calendar information, requiring innovative input methods to enhance usability and data transfer efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A method that utilizes tilt movements to shift calendar elements on a graphical user interface, allowing users to navigate through calendar applications without additional input means, by detecting and normalizing the tilt displacement relative to the calendar region, and optimizing data transfer by requesting only relevant calendar entities from the server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If touch screen interfaces are used to maximize display size, then display area is increased, but navigation complexity increases due to small screen real estate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical input methods (keyboards, mice, or complex touch gestures) with an inertial sensing system. The mobile device's accelerometer and gyroscope detect physical tilting movements, and the calendar view automatically pans in the corresponding direction. This substitution allows users to navigate calendar content on small screens using intuitive physical movements rather than complex touch operations, resolving the contradiction between maximizing display area and maintaining navigation ease.
2Loss of information
If more calendar entities are displayed to show more information, then information completeness is improved, but data transfer volume increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements prefetching of calendar entities based on predicted user navigation. When the device detects sustained tilting movements indicating the user wants to navigate to a future time period, the system proactively requests and loads calendar entities for that period before the user actually needs to view them. This preliminary action ensures information is ready when needed, maintaining information completeness while optimizing data transfer by only loading predicted-needed content rather than all possible content.
3Measurement precision
If traditional input methods are used for calendar navigation, then input precision is maintained, but device complexity increases due to additional input means
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the mobile device's inertial sensing system (accelerometer and gyroscope), originally designed for other purposes like screen rotation and step counting, serve a new function: calendar navigation. By programming the device to interpret tilting movements as navigation commands, the existing hardware components perform multiple functions. This eliminates the need for additional dedicated input hardware while maintaining precise navigation control through the device's existing motion sensors, resolving the contradiction between input precision and device complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for data transmission in a telecommunication network, the network comprising a server (102) and a portable electronic device (10), wherein the server (102) and the portable electronic device (10) are adapted for mutual communication via a base station (100), the portable electronic device (10) comprising a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface being describable by perpendicular x- and y directions, the method comprising at the portable electronic device (10) sending a request to the server (102), the request indicating calendar entities to be displayed on the graphical user interface, and in response receiving from the server (102) the calendar entities, drawing within a calendar region displayed on the graphical user interface a timeline and the calendar entities, wherein the calendar region represents a first number of time units representing a first time period, wherein each calendar entity is representative of a respective second time period specified by the calendar entity, wherein drawing is adapted for allowing each calendar entity to be displayed correctly scaled with respect to the timeline, detecting a tilt movement of the portable electronic device (10), wherein the tilt movement comprises a tilt direction in the x- or y-direction and determining a second number of time units by multiplying a determined normalized shift displacement obtained from the detected tilt movement with the first number of time units, wherein the normalization is given with respect to the width of the calendar region in the tilt direction, redrawing within the calendar region the timeline and the calendar entities shifted by the second number of time units in the tilt direction, wherein the calendar region now represents an updated first time period.