Visual Inventory Rules Building System for Advertising
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current graphical user interfaces for managing online advertising inventory are cumbersome and lack clarity, particularly in representing interdependencies and conflicts among parameters, making it difficult for users to create and update inventory rules effectively.
Innovation Solution
A visual inventory rules building system that uses a graphical user interface to allow users to build and manage complex rules through molecular-like graphics, providing a quick visual mode, advanced mode, and conventional view, with validation features to flag incompatible items and suggest replacements, and supporting three-dimensional representations for augmented and virtual reality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional grid-based interfaces are used for inventory rule management, then comprehensive parameter control is achieved, but user interface complexity and difficulty of operation increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the conventional two-dimensional grid interface into a three-dimensional visual workspace where inventory rules are represented as spatial objects. Users can manipulate rules by dragging, dropping, and positioning them in a 3D space, which provides intuitive spatial relationships and reduces the cognitive load associated with navigating complex grid-based parameter settings. This dimensional transformation makes the interface more intuitive and easier to operate despite the complexity of managing multiple inventory parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates visual copies or representations of inventory rules as graphical objects in the 3D workspace. Instead of directly editing parameters in spreadsheets or forms, users work with visual copies that represent the rules, their relationships, and their status. These graphical representations can be manipulated, copied, and configured through drag-and-drop operations, simplifying the interaction complexity while maintaining full parameter control capability.
2Productivity
If multiple parameters are combined in multiple steps or long forms, then comprehensive rule configuration is achieved, but time to create and update rules increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-configures visual templates and building blocks for common inventory rule patterns. Instead of requiring users to manually combine multiple parameters step-by-step, the system provides pre-assembled visual components that represent common rule configurations. Users can quickly deploy these pre-configured elements into the 3D workspace and modify them as needed, significantly reducing the time required to create comprehensive inventory rules while maintaining configuration depth.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple parameter settings and rule configurations into single visual objects or composite graphical elements in the 3D workspace. Instead of requiring separate steps for each parameter adjustment, related parameters are combined into unified visual representations that can be manipulated as a single unit. This merging approach maintains comprehensive control over all parameters while reducing the number of discrete steps users must perform.
3Loss of information
If visual representations of rules are provided, then interdependencies and conflicts are made visible, but system complexity for rendering and managing visual elements increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs color-coding and visual highlighting to represent different states, relationships, and conflicts among inventory rules in the 3D workspace. Visual cues such as color changes, shading, and graphical indicators automatically highlight interdependencies and potential conflicts without requiring complex data processing or additional interface elements. This approach makes information visible and accessible while keeping the visual rendering system relatively simple and efficient.
4Adaptability or versatility
If both tile and grid views are provided, then user preferences are accommodated, but interface complexity and difficulty of understanding relationships increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic 3D workspace that can adapt its visualization mode based on user interaction and context. Instead of providing separate static tile and grid views that both have clarity issues, the system offers a dynamic 3D environment that responds to user actions, automatically adjusting its representation to highlight relationships and dependencies. This dynamic approach provides versatility in how rules can be manipulated while maintaining clarity through spatial context and visual relationships inherent in the 3D space.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for creating and updating rules for distribution of an online advertising inventory. The methods can include generating a rule conditions section of a GUI that is configured to display a plurality of parameters of a rule condition of a rule for distribution of an online advertising inventory. Each displayed parameter of the rule condition can be graphically represented by a basic shape (e.g., a hexagon). And, each basic shape of the rule condition can be labeled with an alphanumerical indication of the graphically represented parameter and can also be clustered together in the GUI. The methods can also include generating a rule summary section of the GUI that is configured to display a plurality of rule conditions of a rule. The methods can also include generating a rules list section of the GUI that is configured to display a plurality of rules for distribution of inventory.