Vehicle Countdown Timer Animation with Threshold Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle display systems do not effectively communicate changing estimated arrival times to passengers in a visually engaging and seamless manner, especially when revisions occur near the end of a trip, potentially causing confusion due to frequent updates.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that receives initial and revised estimated arrival times, divides them into preset intervals, and displays an animation where objects represent time intervals, modifying the animation only when the revision exceeds a predetermined threshold, ensuring the last object's movement coincides with the updated arrival time, thereby providing a seamless and engaging visual representation of time passage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the animation is modified for every estimated arrival time revision, then the display remains up-to-date with current time estimates, but passenger confusion increases due to frequent unnecessary changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of animation modification from 'every revision' to 'only when threshold exceeded'. By introducing a threshold parameter (e.g., 5 minutes), the system filters out minor fluctuations in arrival time estimates and only updates the animation when changes are significant enough to warrant passenger notification, thus reducing confusion while maintaining accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If the animation is modified to reflect every minor revision, then the display remains accurate, but visual stability deteriorates causing frequent disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a threshold parameter that controls when animation modification occurs. By setting this parameter (e.g., 5-minute threshold), the system maintains visual stability by preventing frequent minor updates while still reflecting accurate arrival times when significant changes occur, thus resolving the contradiction between accuracy and stability.
3Loss of information
If the animation updates frequently to show revised arrival times, then information currency is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates as passengers find it harder to interpret
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a threshold parameter to control information update frequency. By filtering updates through this parameter, the system maintains currency of arrival time information while improving ease of operation by presenting only significant changes that passengers can easily interpret and understand, rather than constant minor fluctuations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for displaying a count-down timer may include, in one or more aspects, receiving data representing an initial estimated arrival time for a vehicle; dividing the initial estimated arrival time into preset time intervals; displaying within the vehicle an animation including a plurality of objects each representing one of the time interval. The animation may further include representing the passage of time by the sequential movement of the plurality of objects such that movement of the last object in the sequence is determined to coincide with the initial estimated arrival time, and selectively responding to only some updated estimates to arrival time by modifying the animation such that the movement of the last object in the sequence is determined to coincide with the update.