Touch Panel Icon Drag-and-Drop Across Tabs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing file browsing applications do not allow users to freely arrange icons within folders or tabs after moving them, and existing image forming apparatus methods require pre-selection of icons and buttons for rearrangement and tab switching, limiting user flexibility in icon placement.
Innovation Solution
A display device with a touch panel and control unit that enables users to easily move icons across tabs and change their order by drag-and-drop operations, displaying indicators for possible or impossible drop positions based on available space in the destination tab.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a drag-and-drop operation is used to move icons across tabs, then the ease of operation is improved, but the ability to freely arrange icons within the destination tab is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The icon movement process is segmented into two independent operations: (1) selecting and dragging the icon to the destination tab, and (2) positioning the icon at the desired location within the tab by dropping it on the target position. This segmentation allows users to first move icons easily between tabs and then freely arrange them within the destination tab, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and arrangement flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The destination tab header serves as an intermediary element that enables both tab switching and position specification. When a user drops an icon on the destination tab header, the system interprets this as a request to move the icon to that tab and positions it at a specific location, thus mediating between the simple drag-and-drop gesture and the complex operation of moving and repositioning icons.
2Stability of the object's composition
If multiple tabs with fixed icon capacities are used, then the organization of icons is improved, but the ease of moving icons between tabs is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically manages tab capacities and icon placements without requiring users to manually configure tab structures or specify detailed placement parameters. When users drag and drop icons onto tab headers, the system self-adjusts the icon distribution based on tab capacities, automatically determining optimal positions and handling overflow scenarios, thus maintaining tab structure stability while simplifying user operations.
3Measurement precision
If visual indicators are displayed to show drop possibilities, then the measurement precision of drop feasibility is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses color changes in the tab header as visual indicators to communicate drop feasibility. When an icon is being dragged, the tab header changes color to indicate whether dropping the icon on that tab is valid (e.g., green for valid, red for invalid). This simple color-based feedback mechanism provides precise drop feasibility information without requiring complex display elements or additional interface components, thus maintaining low device complexity while improving measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A display device that allows a user to easily move an icon across tabs and freely change the order of the icon in the tab of a movement destination is provided. The display device comprising a display unit, a touch panel that is arranged so as to superimposed on the display unit, and a control unit configured to display a screen including a plurality of tabs capable of accommodating a plurality of predetermined numbers of icons on the display unit. The control unit comprises a switching unit configured to switch between a home screen for displaying icons accommodated in a first tab selected via the touch panel among the plurality of tabs and a setting screen for moving a predetermined icon accommodated in the first tab to a second tab by a drag-and-drop operation, and a display control unit configured in such a way that when the predetermined icon is dragged onto a heading part of the second tab on the setting screen, in a case that there is no space for inserting the predetermined icon in the second tab, a display indicating that a drop operation is not possible is performed on the heading part of the second tab, and in a case that there is a space for inserting the predetermined icon in the second tab, a display indicating that a drop operation is possible is performed on the heading part of the second tab.