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US 10,656,703 B2Granted
Visual display techniques for mitigating latency
AssigneeWolfram Alpha LLC
InventorsStephen Wolfram, Jeremy Davis, Edward Pegg, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A visual display that changes with time and/or an audio signal is rendered while a task is being completed by a computing device (e.g., performing a computation, retrieving information, powering up a device, starting a computer application, etc.). The visual display and/or audio signal are configured to engage the user in order to mitigate latency of the task. Because the user is being engaged by the visual display and/or audio signal, the user may be less likely to notice and/or be bothered by the latency.
Claims26
A method, comprising:
- electronically communicating between a computing device and a server via a communication network;
- receiving, at the computing device, respective user input associated with different tasks to be performed;
- transmitting, by the computing device, the respective user input to the server via the communication network;
- receiving, from the server, a rule for generating a visual display;
- determining, at the computing device, different respective initial conditions for the rule that are related to the respective tasks;
- generating, with the computing device, a plurality of different visual displays respectively corresponding to the different tasks using the rule and the different respective initial conditions;
- and
- rendering on a display device each of the visual displays while each respective task is being performed;
- wherein rendering each visual display includes:
- displaying, on the display device, a plurality of identical visual elements arranged in a visual array, the visual elements being spaced apart from each other, the visual elements being separately controllable to be displayed in different states from among a same plurality of states associated with at least one visual characteristic of the visual elements, the plurality of different states including i) a first state corresponding to displaying a respective visual element having a first width or diameter from among a set of multiple widths or diameters and at a first brightness level from among a set of multiple brightness levels, the set of widths or diameters including a minimum width or diameter, a maximum width or diameter, and one or more other widths or diameters between the minimum width or diameter and the maximum width or diameter and the set of brightness levels including a minimum brightness level, ii) a second state corresponding to displaying the respective visual element having a second width or diameter from among the set of widths or diameters and at a second brightness level from among the set of brightness levels, the second brightness level being greater than the minimum brightness level, and iii) a third state corresponding to displaying the respective visual element having a third width or diameter from among the set of widths or diameters and at a third brightness level from among the set of brightness levels, so that a) brightness of the respective visual element varies over time amongst different brightness levels in the set of brightness levels and b) a width or diameter of the respective visual element as displayed varies over time, and
- applying the rule to separately change the respective states of the visual elements over time as the visual display is rendered such that i) a first set of multiple visual elements are in the third state at a first time and are separated by visual elements in the first state, and ii) a different second set of multiple visual elements are in the third state at a second time and are separated by visual elements in the first state, and
- wherein each visual display is configured to engage the user of the visual display in order to distract the viewer from the amount of time passing while the respective task is being performed and
- ending the rendering of the respective visual display in connection with completion of the respective task.
10 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a user input device configured to receive respective user inputs associated with different tasks to be performed;
- a network interface device configured to (i) electronically communicate with a server and via a network, (ii) transmit the respective user input to the server via the network, and (iii) receive, from the server, a rule for generating a visual display;
- a hardware processor coupled to the user input device and the network interface device, the hardware processor configured to:
- determine different respective initial conditions for the rule that are related to the respective tasks, and
- generate a plurality of different visual displays corresponding to the different respective tasks using the rule and the determined different respective initial conditions;
- and
- wherein each visual display is to be rendered on a display device while each respective task is being performed;
- wherein, for each visual display to be rendered, a plurality of identical visual elements are to be displayed in a visual array, the visual elements being spaced apart from each other, the visual elements being separately controllable to be displayed in different states from among a same plurality of states associated with at least one visual characteristic of the visual elements, the plurality of different states including i) a first state corresponding to displaying a respective visual element having a first width or diameter from among a set of multiple widths or diameters and at a first brightness level from among a set of multiple brightness levels, the set of widths or diameters including a minimum width or diameter, a maximum width or diameter, and one or more other widths or diameters between the minimum width or diameter and the maximum width or diameter and the set of brightness levels including a minimum brightness level, ii) a second state corresponding to displaying the respective visual element having a second width or diameter from among the set of diameters at a second brightness level from among the set of brightness levels, the second brightness level being greater than the minimum brightness level, and iii) a third state corresponding to displaying the respective visual element having a third width or diameter from among the set of widths or diameters and at a third brightness level from among the set of brightness levels, so that a) brightness of the respective visual element varies over time amongst different brightness levels in the set of brightness levels and b) a width or diameter of the respective visual element as displayed varies over time;
- wherein the rule is to be applied to separately change the respective states of the visual elements over time as the visual display is rendered such that i) a first set of multiple visual elements are in the third state at a first time and are separated by visual elements in the first state, and ii) a different second set of multiple visual elements are in the third state at a second time and are separated by visual elements in the first state;
- and
- wherein each visual display is configured to engage a viewer of the visual display in order to distract the viewer from the amount of time passing while the respective task is being performed;
- and
- wherein the hardware processor is configured to end the rendering of the respective visual display in connection with completion of the respective task.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.