Unified Communications Interface for Converged User Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional user interfaces for electronic devices, such as mobile phones, require users to navigate multiple independent graphical user interfaces and applications to access different types of communications, leading to limitations and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A communications convergence and user interface system that converges data from various communication types, such as voice, text, and email, into a single graphical user interface, allowing users to view and interact with communication instances of distinct types in a unified manner, with features like grouping by contact or chronological order, and enabling user input to filter or expand communication threads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple independent graphical user interfaces and applications are used to access different communication types, then each communication type can be accessed with dedicated functionality, but user interaction complexity increases and usability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple independent communication applications (voice, text, email, instant messaging) into a single unified graphical user interface. The convergence facility combines communication data from different types into a single display, allowing users to access all communication types through one interface rather than multiple separate applications, directly resolving the contradiction by maintaining versatility while simplifying operation
Solution Approach 2:
The unified graphical user interface serves multiple communication functions simultaneously. The single interface can display and enable interaction with voice calls, text messages, emails, and instant messaging communications, making the system universal across different communication types without requiring users to switch between specialized applications
2Reliability
If multiple independent applications are used for different communication types, then each application can be optimized for its specific function, but time required to access and switch between communications increases
Solution Approach 1:
By combining multiple communication applications into one unified interface, the system eliminates the time users would spend switching between separate applications. The convergence facility aggregates all communication types in a single view, allowing users to access any communication type immediately without transition time, thus resolving the time loss issue while preserving functional reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-aggregating and displaying communication data from all types in the unified interface before the user needs to access any specific communication. This preliminary consolidation of information eliminates the need for users to navigate through multiple applications, reducing access time while maintaining full functional capability
3Ease of operation
If a single unified interface consolidates all communication types, then user interaction is simplified and accessibility is enhanced, but the complexity of the underlying system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The convergence facility acts as an intermediary component between the various communication applications and the unified graphical user interface. This intermediary layer handles the complexity of data aggregation and integration, shielding the user from system complexity while providing a simple unified interface. The intermediary absorbs the complexity of coordinating multiple communication types without exposing it to the user
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the complexity into separate functional modules (convergence facility, display generation, communication handlers) while presenting a unified interface to the user. By segmenting the underlying system architecture, the patent manages complexity internally while maintaining simplicity at the user interface level, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
In an exemplary method, communications data representative of communication instances of distinct types is converged and a graphical user interface (“GUI”) including a set of listings representative of a grouping of the communication instances of distinct types is displayed. In certain embodiments, at least one of the communication instances represented in the set of listings includes a voice type communication instance. In certain embodiments, a user selection of one of the listings displayed in the GUI is detected, the selected listing associated with a contact, and another set of listings representative of another grouping of converged communication instances of distinct types is displayed in response to the user selection. In certain embodiments, each of the communication instances in the other grouping is associated with the contact. In certain embodiments, the other set of listings is displayed as a subset within the set of listings in the GUI.