The present disclosure relates to a method and system for providing a prototyping tool, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium.
In recent years, smart devices, wearable devices, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices have been widely used, and technologies relating to an interaction for controlling these devices have been actively developed. In conventional techniques relating to the interaction, control is performed on a device mainly based on a general and regular gesture such as a touch gesture (e.g., tap or swipe) inputted through a touch panel or a motion gesture (e.g., shake or rotate) inputted through an acceleration sensor or a gyro sensor.
However, in the case of a device, such as a wearable device or an IoT device, which is difficult to include a touch panel, or a device which is difficult to include an acceleration sensor or a gyro sensor due to restrictions in shape or manufacturing cost, there is a limitation that it is difficult to apply the conventional interaction techniques based on a general and regular gesture.
Therefore, a technique is required to support the definition of a new gesture according to the characteristics of a device to be controlled or the situation in which it is being used, or support more specific control of a device by combining two or more gestures.
Meanwhile, interest in a prototyping tool necessary for developing the above-mentioned interaction techniques is also increasing. Conventionally, various prototyping tools have been introduced to support the development of computer programs such as applications and interaction techniques applicable to the computer programs. However, the conventional prototyping tool has a problem in that it is difficult for a general user (e.g., an app designer) who does not have background knowledge about computer programming to use the prototyping tool, or has a limitation that although it is easy for a general user to use the prototyping tool, its functionality is limited, making it difficult to implement a sophisticated and complex interaction desired by the user.
Therefore, there is a need for a prototyping tool for supporting the implementation of a sophisticated and complex interaction while enabling the elements constituting the interaction to be easily defined and combined.
One object of the present disclosure is to solve all the above-described problems.
In order to accomplish the above objects, a representative configuration of the present disclosure is as follows.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for providing a prototyping tool, comprising: acquiring input data from a user; defining, as a trigger, a gesture generated by using the input data; and defining an interaction for allowing at least one action to be performed if the trigger occurs.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program causing a computer to provide a prototyping tool. The computer program comprising: an instruction of acquiring input data from a user; an instruction of defining, as a trigger, a gesture generated by using the input data; and an instruction of defining an interaction for allowing at least one action to be performed if the trigger occurs.
One object of the present disclosure is to provide a prototyping tool for supporting the implementation of a sophisticated and complex interaction while enabling the elements constituting the interaction to be easily defined and combined, by acquiring first input data and second input data using at least one sensor; acquiring combination data for specifying a combination between the first input data and the second input data; defining, as a trigger, a gesture in which the first input data and the second input data are combined according to the combination data; providing a first graphic element corresponding to a trigger, a second graphic element corresponding to an object, and a third graphic element corresponding to an action; and defining, when at least one first graphic element, at least one second graphic element and at least one third graphic element are selected and combined by a user, an interaction for allowing at least one action corresponding to the at least one third graphic element to be performed with respect to at least one object corresponding to the at least one second graphic element if at least one trigger corresponding to the at least one first graphic element occurs.
According to the present disclosure, an effect is achieved that a user can easily and variously generate a gesture that can be utilized as a trigger of an interaction applied to a smart device, a wearable device, an IoT device, or the like.
Further, according to the present disclosure, an effect is achieved that even a user who does not have technical background knowledge required to implement an interaction can easily prototype various interactions.
In the following detailed description of the present disclosure, references are made to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure. It is to be understood that the various embodiments of the disclosure, although different from each other, are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, specific shapes, structures, or characteristics described herein may be implemented as modified from one embodiment to another embodiment without departing from the spirit and the scope of the disclosure. Furthermore, it shall be understood that the locations or arrangements of individual elements within each embodiment may be also modified without departing from the spirit and the scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the disclosure is to be taken as encompassing the scope of the appended claims and all equivalents thereof. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements throughout the several views.
Hereinafter, various preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings to enable those skilled in the art to easily implement the disclosure.
As used herein, the term “interaction” is a concept that collectively refers to interactions that may occur between a user and a device 300, and may include an action indicating an operation performed in the device and a trigger acting as a triggering event that triggers a specific action, and an object serving as a target of the action or trigger.
Configuration of the Entire System
As shown in
First, the communication network 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be configured regardless of a communication mode such as wired communication and wireless communication, and may include various communication networks such as a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN) and a wide area network (WAN). Preferably, the communication network 100 used herein may be the well-known Internet or World Wide Web (WWW). However, the communication network 100 may include, at least in part, a known wired or wireless data communication network, a known telephone network, or a known wired or wireless television communication network, without being limited thereto.
Next, the prototyping tool providing system 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be a digital device having a memory means and a microprocessor for a computation function. The prototyping tool providing system 200 may be a server system.
To this end, the prototyping tool providing system 200, as described in detail below, may perform a function of providing a prototyping tool for supporting the implementation of a sophisticated and complex interaction while enabling the elements constituting the interaction to be easily defined and combined, by acquiring first input data and second input data using at least one sensor; acquiring combination data for specifying a combination between the first input data and the second input data; defining, as a trigger, a gesture in which the first input data and the second input data are combined according to the combination data; providing a first graphic element corresponding to a trigger, a second graphic element corresponding to an object, and a third graphic element corresponding to an action; and defining, when at least one first graphic element, at least one second graphic element and at least one third graphic element are selected and combined by a user, an interaction for allowing at least one action corresponding to the at least one third graphic element to be performed with respect to at least one object corresponding to the at least one second graphic element if at least one trigger corresponding to the at least one first graphic element occurs.
The function of the prototyping tool providing system 200 will be described in more detail below. Although the above description has been made with respect to the prototyping tool providing system 200, the description is exemplary and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that at least some of the functions or components required for the prototyping tool providing system 200 may be realized or included in the devices 310 and 320 that are subject to interaction prototyping as needed.
Next, each of the devices 310 and 320 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a digital device including a function capable of performing communication after being connected to the prototyping tool providing system 200 or a counterpart of the devices 310 and 320 (preferably, the devices 310 and 320 may be separate from each other or externalized). Any digital device having a memory means and a microprocessor for a computation function may be employed as each of the devices 310 and 320 according to the present disclosure. The devices 310 and 320 may be so-called smart devices such as smart phones and smart pads, so-called wearable devices such as smart glasses, smart watches, smart bands and smart rings, or Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The devices 310 and 320 may also be relatively conventional devices such as desktop computers, laptop computers, workstations, PDAs, web pads, mobile phones, buttons, mouses, keyboards, and electronic pens.
In particular, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the devices 310 and 320 may include at least one technical means (i.e., a sensor) capable of obtaining input data or combination data according to a user's operation. Examples of the technical means may include well-known components such as a touch panel and a pointing tool (e.g., a mouse, a stylus and an electronic pen), a graphic object which can be operated by a user, a keyboard, a toggle switch, a biometric information (e.g., fingerprint) recognition sensor, a distance sensor, a motion sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a magnetic sensor, a positioning sensor (e.g., a GPS module and a beacon-based positioning (checking) module), an atmospheric pressure sensor, a distance sensor, an image sensor (e.g., a camera), an acoustic sensor, a voice recognition sensor, an optical sensor and the like.
In addition, the devices 310 and 320 may further include an application program for allowing an interaction prototyped by the prototyping tool providing system 200 to be performed on the device or supporting the prototyping itself. Such an application may exist in the form of a program module within the devices 310 and 320. The program module may be generally similar to the internal components of the prototyping tool providing system 200 as described above. Here, an application may be replaced with a hardware device or a firmware device, at least a part of which may perform substantially the same or equivalent functions as necessary.
Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if it is recognized that the first device 310 and the second device 320 have a predetermined association (for example, belonging to the same user, functioning for the same user, substantially close to each other, or reasonable for one of them to authenticate or allow the other), a predetermined connection may be formed between the first device 310 and the second device 320. This recognition or connection may be performed by the prototyping tool providing system 200 or directly by the first device 310 and the second device 320.
Configuration of the Prototyping Tool Providing System
Hereinafter, an internal configuration of the prototyping tool providing system which performs an important function for the implementation of the present disclosure and the functions of the respective components will be described.
Referring to
First, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger management unit 210 may perform a function of acquiring first input data and second input data using at least one sensor, and acquiring combination data for specifying a combination between the first input data and the second input data. Further, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger management unit 210 may perform a function of defining, as a trigger, a gesture in which the first input data and the second input data are combined according to the acquired combination data.
Specifically, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger management unit 210 may sequentially acquire the first input data and the second input data at a predetermined time interval.
Further, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in acquiring the first input data or the second input data, the trigger management unit 210 may specify the first input data or the second input data by detecting a demonstration performed by the user using at least one sensor after receiving a selection of the type of the input data from the user. However, the method of acquiring the input data according to the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to the above-described method, and the input data may be specified only by detecting a demonstration performed by the user using at least one sensor in a state in which a selection of the type of the input data is not separately received from the user.
Further, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger management unit 210 may specify the first input data or the second input data by detecting a demonstration performed over a plurality of devices.
In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger management unit 210 may specify the first input data or the second input data based on a pattern extracted from the demonstration that is detected a plurality of times.
In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the combination data acquired by the trigger management unit 210 may include a Boolean operator. For example, the combination data may include an AND operator, an OR operator, a NOT operator, an exclusive-OR (XOR) operator, and the like.
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Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger management unit 210 may determine that only the input data approved by the user among the acquired input data is valid input data. Also, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger management unit 210 may determine that only the gesture approved by the user among the generated gestures is a valid trigger. That is, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the acquired first input data or second input data is erroneously inputted due to the user's demonstration mistake or the like, or if the gesture generated as a result of combining the acquired first input data and second input data does not match the user's intention, the user may cancel the corresponding input data or the corresponding gesture so that only the input data or gesture intended by the user can be included in the trigger.
Next, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the interaction management unit 220 may perform a function of providing a first graphic element corresponding to a trigger, a second graphic element corresponding to an object, and a third graphic element corresponding to an action. Further, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the interaction management unit 220 may perform a function of defining, when at least one first graphic element, at least one second graphic element and at least one third graphic element are selected and combined by the user, an interaction for allowing at least one action corresponding to the selected third graphic element to be performed with respect to at least one object corresponding to the selected second graphic element if at least one trigger corresponding to the selected first graphic element occurs.
Here, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an object may include any kind of object that can be controlled by or interacted with the device, as well as a text, an image, a video, an audio, a character, an avatar, the whole area of the screen, a partial area of the screen, and the like.
Further, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an action may include any kind of action that can be performed on an object in the device, as well as Move, Rotate, Scale, Opacity, Color, Run, Cancel, Copy, Paste, Delete, Scroll, and the like.
Specifically, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the interaction management unit 220 may perform a function of providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for supporting the user's selection and combination of at least one first graphic element corresponding to a trigger, at least one second graphic element corresponding to an object, and at least one third graphic element corresponding to an action.
Referring to
For example, the first graphic element corresponding to a trigger may be formed in such a shape as to be connected to another graphic element only downward, so that the first graphic element can be disposed on top of the set of graphic elements defining the interaction (see
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Next, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the database 230 may perform a function of storing information about the trigger or interaction defined above, and allowing it to be reused by the user or another user. The database 230 encompasses a computer-readable recording medium, and may refer not only to a database in a narrow sense but also to a database in a broad sense including data records based on a file system or the like.
Next, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication unit 240 may perform a function of allowing the prototyping tool providing system 200 to communicate with an external device.
Lastly, the control unit 250 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may perform a function of controlling data flow among the trigger management unit 210, the interaction management unit 220, the database 230 and the communication unit 240. That is, the control unit 250 controls data flow from the outside or among the components of the prototyping tool providing system 200, such that the trigger management unit 210, the interaction management unit 220, the database 230 and the communication unit 240 can carry out their particular functions, respectively.
Hereinafter, specific examples of an interaction that can be prototyped according to the present disclosure will be described in detail.
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The embodiments according to the present disclosure as described above may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer components, and may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures and the like, separately or in combination. The program instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium may be specially designed and configured for the present disclosure, or may also be known and available to those skilled in the computer software field. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include the following: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tapes; optical media such as compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM) and digital versatile disks (DVDs); magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM) and flash memory, which are specially configured to store and execute program instructions. Examples of the program instructions include not only machine language codes created by a compiler or the like, but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The above hardware devices may be changed to one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present disclosure, and vice versa.
Although the present disclosure has been described above in connection with specific limitations such as detailed components as well as limited embodiments and drawings, these are merely provided to aid general understanding of the disclosure. The present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications are possible from the above description.
Therefore, the spirit of the present disclosure shall not be limited to the embodiments described above, and the entire scope of the appended claims and their equivalents will fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2014-0163810 | Nov 2014 | KR | national |
10-2014-0163827 | Nov 2014 | KR | national |
The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/599,758, filed May 19, 2017, which is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/KR2015/001870, filed Feb. 26, 2015, which is based upon and claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2014-0163810, filed on Nov. 21, 2014, and 10-2014-0163827, filed on Nov. 21, 2014. The disclosure of the above-listed applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15599758 | May 2017 | US |
Child | 16058917 | US | |
Parent | PCT/KR2015/001870 | Feb 2015 | US |
Child | 15599758 | US |