Toggling User Input Representations for Virtual Collaboration
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Solution Overview
Problem
In virtual collaboration environments, it is difficult to determine which user made specific changes, and remote users may not fully appreciate each other's interactions, leading to unclear attribution and communication challenges.
Innovation Solution
A system that presents a user interface on a device, allowing users to toggle between the presentation and non-presentation of different types of user inputs, such as gestures, eye movements, and audio, using selectors and facial recognition to associate inputs with specific users and types, enabling clear attribution and real-time collaboration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If representations of all user inputs are continuously presented to all users, then complete visibility of all interactions is achieved, but information overload and difficulty in determining specific user contributions occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the continuous stream of user inputs by dividing them into distinct types (e.g., gestures, eye movements, audio) and organizing them into separate selectable categories. This segmentation allows users to view only relevant input types rather than being overwhelmed by all inputs simultaneously, thus reducing interface complexity while maintaining complete visibility when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic control of information presentation by allowing users to toggle the visibility of different input type representations in real-time. This dynamic adjustment enables the interface to adapt to different collaboration contexts, presenting detailed information when needed and simplifying the view when not needed, thereby resolving the contradiction between complete visibility and interface complexity.
2Loss of information
If detailed representations of remote user interactions are presented, then appreciation of remote users' work is improved, but bandwidth consumption and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential and relevant features of user interactions for presentation to remote users. Instead of transmitting and displaying complete raw interaction data, the system identifies and presents key characteristics of each input type (such as the essence of a gesture or the meaningful content of audio input), thereby maintaining appreciation of remote work while reducing bandwidth consumption and processing requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
In one aspect, a device includes a processor, a display accessible to the processor, and storage accessible to the processor. The storage bears instructions executable by the processor to present a user interface (UI) on the display and present at least a first option on the display and a second option on the display. The first option is selectable to present at the device, at least a first representation of first user input of a first input type. The second option is selectable to present, at the device, at least a second representation of second user input of a second input type. The first user input and the second user input pertain to the UI, and the first input type is different from the second input type.