Visual Contact Prioritization via Game Metaphor Weighting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing reminder systems, such as electronic calendaring and contact management systems, are ineffective in prioritizing contact interactions and maintaining prioritization over time, especially with large contact sets, leading to missed business opportunities and lost relationships.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses a server with a contact database to assign composite weighting factors to contacts based on interaction history, presenting a game metaphor visualization where contacts are scaled according to their weighting, and rewards users for interacting with them, using communication devices and an activity monitor to update the visualization interface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional textual reminder systems are used, then contact management is maintained, but user engagement and prioritization effectiveness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs color-coded visual indicators to represent different priority levels and interaction statuses of contacts. Contacts are displayed with varying colors and visual intensities based on their composite weighting factors, making priority differentiation immediate and intuitive rather than requiring textual interpretation or manual categorization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the traditional one-dimensional textual reminder system into a multi-dimensional visual interface. Contacts are positioned in spatial arrangements that reflect their priority and interaction frequency, with visual metaphors that convey multiple attributes (priority, recency, importance) simultaneously through position, size, and visual weight rather than requiring separate textual fields.
2Quantity of substance
If large contact sets are managed using traditional systems, then comprehensive contact tracking is achieved, but prioritization and maintenance become cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically calculates composite weighting factors for contacts based on interaction history, recency, and user-defined criteria. The visual prioritization updates dynamically without requiring manual intervention, and the system self-adjusts as interactions occur, eliminating the need for users to manually maintain prioritization lists even as contact sets grow large.
Solution Approach 2:
The visual interface provides immediate feedback on contact priority levels and interaction status. As users interact with contacts through communication devices, the system automatically updates the visual representation, reinforcing effective behavior and guiding users to prioritize contacts that need attention based on real-time data rather than static lists.
3Loss of information
If textual alerts are used to prompt contact, then reminders are provided, but differentiation of contact priority is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Different priority levels and interaction statuses are represented through distinct color codes and visual intensities. High-priority contacts that require immediate attention are displayed with more intense visual characteristics, while lower-priority contacts use subdued visual indicators, enabling rapid visual differentiation without requiring users to interpret textual priority labels.
Data Source
AI summary
The current invention discloses improved systems and processes for visually incentivizing a user to interact with associated contacts. The system includes a server having a contact database of a plurality of contact records associated with the user, the contact records having information such as contact information. Contact record metadata such as prior contact interaction history is associated with each contact record. A composite weighting factor is assigned to each contact record based on user configurable weighting factors, such as date of the last contact interaction. A game metaphor simulating an actor performing a task where a person is interacting with a distance object is presented, the visualization visualizing the user as the actor, each contact visualized as the distant object, and the distance of the distant object scaled proportionally according to the assigned weighting factor of the corresponding contact. The system monitors for user interaction with the visualization interface or contact interaction over a communication device and rewards the user.