Web Page Element Age Visualization via Color Shading

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Solution Overview

Problem

Web site developers face challenges in determining the freshness of content on Web pages, as changes to back-end components can affect content presentation without clear indicators of content age, making it difficult to maintain content freshness and attract viewers.

Innovation Solution

A content provider system calculates and visualizes the age of Web page elements by generating and comparing checksums, incrementing or resetting ages based on changes, and modifying the page to visually indicate the age through colors or shapes, allowing developers to quickly assess content freshness.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If Web site developers make changes to back-end components to improve content presentation, then content quality and relevance are improved, but it becomes difficult to determine the freshness of content on Web pages

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent freshnessVSAvoidcontent age determination
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies color changes to visually indicate the age of content elements on web pages. Different colors represent different age ranges, allowing developers to quickly assess content freshness at a glance. This visual encoding system transforms abstract temporal information into intuitive visual cues that can be processed immediately without requiring developers to manually check timestamps or analyze code changes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #32Color changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary system that automatically tracks and monitors content age across web pages. This intermediary mechanism bridges the gap between back-end content management changes and front-end content presentation, automatically detecting when content elements are added, modified, or removed and propagating this information throughout the system without requiring manual intervention from developers.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If developers manually track content age to ensure freshness, then content relevance is maintained, but time and resources are consumed

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent freshnessVSAvoidtime for tracking content age
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a self-service system where the web page infrastructure automatically tracks and updates content age information without requiring manual intervention from developers. The system autonomously monitors content elements, calculates their age based on creation and modification timestamps, and updates visual indicators automatically. This eliminates the need for developers to spend time manually tracking content freshness while maintaining accurate and up-to-date information.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The patent establishes a feedback mechanism that continuously monitors content age and provides real-time visual feedback to developers. When content elements are added or modified, the system automatically updates their age indicators, creating a closed-loop system where content changes are immediately reflected in the visual representation of content freshness. This automated feedback eliminates the need for manual tracking while ensuring continuous monitoring of content age.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Ease of operation

If visual indicators are added to show content age, then ease of determining freshness is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent freshness assessmentVSAvoidsystem for tracking and visualizing age
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the content age tracking system into distinct modular components: content element identification, timestamp extraction, age calculation, and visual indicator rendering. Each component performs a specific function and can be independently implemented or modified. This segmentation allows the complex task of content age tracking to be broken down into manageable pieces that can be integrated into existing web page frameworks without requiring a complete system overhaul.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent designs the content age tracking system with universal functionality that can be applied across different types of content elements and web page structures. The same core mechanisms are used to track the age of various content types (text, images, videos, etc.) and can be integrated into different web page layouts and designs. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity by using a unified approach rather than requiring separate tracking mechanisms for each content type.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS9710442B1Calculating and visualizing the age of content
Publication Date: 2017.07.18 IMDBCOM INC
  • US9710442B1 patent drawing
  • US9710442B1 patent drawing
  • US9710442B1 patent drawing

AI summary

Age data is calculated and stored that describes the age of one or more elements in a Web page, such as images or hyperlinks. The age data may be utilized to modify the Web page such that the age of each Web page element is visually presented when the Web page is rendered. For example, the Web page may be configured such that a region is overlaid upon each element that is colored or shaded based upon the age of the element. Colored or shaded borders might also be applied to the Web page elements that indicate the age of each Web page element. The age data might also be utilized to modify the Web page such that the frequency at which each page element has been changed will be visually presented when the Web page is rendered. The age data might also be correlated to other Web page statistics.