Retractable rotary control knob

Abstract

A retractable knob apparatus for selection and indication of settings for a system includes a knob, an electrical motor including a drive shaft coupled to the knob. The electrical motor being capable of applying torque to the knob through the drive shaft. The drive shaft and the knob being configured to rotate about an axis for the selection and indication of the settings for the system. A pin extends radially outward from the knob. The pin being constrained within a slot. The slot has a first region and a second region. The first region corresponds to a constant maximum height of the pin resulting in the knob being at an extended axial position and the second region corresponds to varying heights of the pin between a maximum height and a minimum height when the pin is within the second region.

Description

RETRACTABLE ROTARY CONTROL KNOBINTRODUCTION

[0001] The subject disclosure relates to human interaction with apparatus, including mechanical, electrical and hybrid mechanical / electrical apparatus. Generally, some human interaction with an apparatus is required for conveying information from a user to the apparatus and from the apparatus to the user.

[0002] Rotary knobs provide a convenient and familiar interface for providing operator input to systems including radio tuning, mouse-like scrolling and selections in interactive systems, kitchen appliances, industrial machinery, marine and automotive applications, and custom applications. Rotary knobs necessarily protrude beyond surfaces to which they are mounted in order to provide sufficient surface and edge area for an operator’s engagement with their hand and fingers. When not actively engaged or in use, such rotary knobs may block an operator’s site line or access to other nearby features and may be inconvenient in applications having limited space for such other features. Such rotary knobs may therefore be subject to accidental bumping or unintentional engagements.SUMMARY

[0003] A retractable knob apparatus for selection and indication of settings for a system in accordance with a non-limiting example, includes a knob, an electrical motor including a drive shaft operatively coupled to the knob. The electrical motor being capable of applying torque to the knob through the drive shaft. The drive shaft and the knob being configured to rotate about a common axis for the selection and indication of the settings for the system. A pin extends radially outward from the knob. The pin being constrained within a slot. The slot has a first region and a second region. The first region corresponds to a constant maximum height of the pin resulting in the knob being at an extended axial position when the pin is within the first region, and the second region corresponds to varying heights of the pin between a maximum height and a minimum height, resulting in the knob being at a lower axial position relative to the extended axial position when the pin is within the second region.

[0004] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, a visible index is associated with the knob, wherein the visible index travels with the displacement of the knob.

[0005] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the pin further comprises a ball or roller bearing.

[0006] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, a plurality of visible indices are provided on a housing, the plurality of visible indices remaining fixed relative to the housing, the visible indices representing a plurality of user selectable settings.

[0007] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the plurality of user selectable settings represent vehicle powertrain transmission states, wherein alignment of the visible index on the knob with one of the visible indices represents a current state of the vehicle powertrain transmission.

[0008] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, alignment of the visible index on the knob with each of the visible indices is tactilely indicated with a mechanical detent.

[0009] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, alignment of the visible index on the knob with each of the visible indices is tactilely indicated with a virtual detent torque from the electrical motor.

[0010] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the electrical motor is configured to rotate the knob to establish a retracted position substantially flush with or below an outer surface of the housing when the system is shut down, and to rotate the knob to establish the extended axial position when the system is turned on.

[0011] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the electrical motor is configured to rotate the knob to establish a retracted position substantially flush with or below an outer surface of the housing when the plurality of user selectable settings are unavailable regardless of an operational state of the system.

[0012] In addition to one or more of the features described herein, the knob is a substantially cylindrical knob.

[0013] The above features and advantages, and other features and advantages of the disclosure are readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Other features, advantages and details appear, by way of example only, in the following detailed description, the detailed description referring to the drawings in which:

[0015] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a top-down view of a retractable knob, in accordance with the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 2 illustrates a sub-assembly including a retractable knob, housing, and electrical motor, in accordance with the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 3 schematically depicts a slot and pin arrangement, in accordance with the present disclosure; and

[0018] FIGS. 4 A and 4B depict the retractable knob in extended and retracted axial positions, in accordance with the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, its application or uses. Throughout the drawings, corresponding reference labels indicate like or corresponding parts and features. Description of parts and features in one drawing is understood to apply to parts and features in other drawings sharing the same reference labels to the extent such parts and features are not otherwise distinguishable through drawing examination by one having ordinary skill in the art or distinguished by additional written description herein. In accordance with the present disclosure, apparatus for bi-directional human-machine interface is disclosed in an embodiment related to a vehicle.

[0020] Vehicle is understood to refer to any means of transportation including nonlimiting examples of motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, excavation, earth moving, construction and farming equipment, railed vehicles like trains and trams, aircraft, and watercraft like ships and boats. An exemplary vehicle may include an automobile including a body, chassis, and wheels, each of which are rotationally coupled to the chassis near a respective comer of the body. The vehicle may be a four-wheel vehicle, but the number of wheels may vary in other embodiments. The vehicle may be autonomous or semi-autonomous. The vehicle may include an electrical system and drive system, which generally may include known vehicle systems for vehicle operation, such as, a propulsion system, a transmission system, a steering system, and a brake system, and generates or senses a variety of signals, including vehicle speed, vehicle direction, brake pedal apply, and autonomous operation commands, among others.

[0021] In various embodiments, the electrical system and drive system may be operatively coupled to one or more onboard components and systems via a communication bus. Signals may be available over a vehicle bus for use by a variety of controls and diagnostics. The propulsion system may generate propulsion torque with an internal combustion engine, electric motors, or a combination thereof. It is understood, however, that such an embodiment is merely exemplary and not limiting and a bi-directional humanmachine interface may find application in other vehicles as well as other applications.

[0022] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a top-down view of an embodiment of a retractable knob 100 used in a system for the selection and indication of gear settings in an automotive application. The retractable knob 100 may be coupled to an electrical motor for applying rotary force to the retractable knob as further described herein. In an embodiment, the retractable knob 100 may be included with a sub-assembly 106 including the motor and a housing 107. Such a sub-assembly 106 may be readily incorporated into a center console 109 in a vehicle where the location of the retractable knob 100 may be forward of an armrest and visually unobstructed to a vehicle operator. In an embodiment, the sub-assembly 106 and retractable knob 100 may be part of an instrument panel including a center stack area generally forward of the vehicle operator, visible to the operator and within their reach. Alternate locations may be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art and in accordance with various vehicle design objectives and constraints. At this point, it should be understood that while described in terms of selecting gear settings for a vehicle, retractable knob 100 may be used in a wide variety of applications for the selection of user selectable settings and need not be limited to the art of vehicles.

[0023] The retractable knob 100 may include a visible index 112 such as a line, dot, arrow, letter, number, symbol or other marking or feature that travels with the rotary displacement of the retractable knob 100. Such index associated with the retractable knob 100 may be referred to as a knob index. The housing 107 may further include a plurality of visible indices 115 such as lines, dots, arrows, letters, numbers, symbols or other marking or feature that remain fixed relative to the housing 107 and center console 109. In the embodiment illustrated, the visible indices 115 include the letters P, R, N and D representing vehicle powertrain transmission states of park, reverse, neutral and drive, respectively. The visible indices 115 may also include the letter M flanked by minus (-) and plus (+) signs representing a manual vehicle powertrain transmission state allowing manual incrementing and decrementing of transmission speed ratios.

[0024] Alignment of the index 112 on the retractable knob 100 with one of the indices 115 may represent a current state of the vehicle powertrain transmission. Additional transmission states including a low “L” range or an overdrive “OD” range, sport ‘S”, or any or all of the various forward gear ratios that the transmission may be equipped with may also be indexed if desired. The various transmission states may commonly be referred to as gear settings. In operation, the retractable knob 100 may be manually operated and positioned to select vehicle powertrain transmission states by aligning the index 112 with the indices 115. In operation, the retractable knob may be electromechanically operated and positioned toindicate vehicle powertrain transmission states by aligning the index 112 with the indices 115.

[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the sub-assembly 106 including the retractable knob 100, the housing 107 including an outer surface 107 A, and the electrical motor 102. The motor 102 may be any suitable variety including, for example, brushless permanent magnet or switched reluctance motors. The motor 102 includes a drive shaft 104 operatively coupled to the retractable knob 100. The drive shaft and retractable knob may rotate about an axis 120. The motor 102 may be attached beneath the housing 107 or incorporated therein. The drive shaft 104 is received within the retractable knob 100 and is rotationally fixed thereto yet slidably engaged within the retractable knob 100 to allow axial displacement of the retractable knob 100 up and down the drive shaft 104. In a non-limiting example, motor 102 may be connected to a micro controller 122 and a sensor 124. Microcontroller 122 may control operation of motor 102 while sensor 124 may detect an angular position of shaft 104. Micro-controller 122 and / or sensor 124 may be built into motor 102 or may be embodied on a separate control board.

[0026] In an embodiment, the drive shaft 104 is splined and the retractable knob 100 is cooperatively splined thus allowing axial displacement of the retractable knob 100 relative to the motor shaft 104. The spline arrangement may be a simple straight sliding spline. In an embodiment, the spline interface may include low friction plastic or self-lubricating plastic. In an embodiment, the spline interface may include a ball spline. In the illustrated embodiment, the drive shaft 104 may also function as a shaft for the rotor of the motor 102. In other embodiments, the drive shaft 104 may be separate from the motor but driven by the motor through gears, belts or other torque transmission mechanism.

[0027] The retractable knob 100 is substantially cylindrical having an outer surface 113 which may include surface features 114 such as knurling or splines as shown for improved operator grip and design aesthetics. The retractable knob 100 may include one or more pins 116 extending radially outward from the outer cylindrical surface 113. A single pin 116 is depicted in FIG. 2. The pin 116 is constrained within a slot 117 constructed within the housing 107. The geometry of the slot 117 and the rotational position of the retractable knob 100 determines the pin 116 axial position and hence the axial position of the retractable knob 100.

[0028] FIG. 3 schematically depicts the slot 117 and pin 116. The slot 117 may include a first region 117A and a second region 117B. The first region 117A of the slot 117 may encompass a first angular region of displacement of the retractable knob 100corresponding to a constant maximum height Hl of the pin 116. All angular positions of the pin 116 within the first angular region results in the retractable knob 100 being at an extended axial position corresponding to the maximum height Hl of the pin 116. The extended axial position of the retractable knob 100 corresponds to the retractable knob being exposed above the housing 107 upper surface 107 A (FIG. 2). The second region 117B of the slot 117 may encompass a second angular region of displacement of the retractable knob 100 corresponding to varying heights of the pin 116 between the maximum height Hl and a minimum height H2. The second region 117B of the slot 117 may be referred to as a ramped region.

[0029] At this point, it should be understood that all angular positions of the pin 116 within the ramped region results in the retractable knob 100 being at a lower axial position than the extended axial position. When the pin 116 is at the minimum height H2, the retractable knob 100 is at a retracted position. The retracted position of the retractable knob 100 corresponds to the retractable knob being substantially flush with or below the housing 107 outer surface 107 A. The pin 116 and slot 117 arrangement may include a simple sliding pin 116 withing the slot 117. In an embodiment, the pin 116 to slot 117 interface may include low friction plastic or self-lubricating plastic. In an embodiment, the pin 116 may include a ball or roller bearing to lessen friction in the pin 116 to slot 117 arrangement.

[0030] FIGS. 4 A and 4B depict the retractable knob 100 in the extended axial position and in the retracted position, respectively. Each of FIGS. 4A and 4B is partially sectioned through the retractable knob 100 and the motor shaft 104 to generally depict the slidable engagement of the retractable knob 100 to the drive shaft 104 which allows axial displacement of the retractable knob 100 up and down the drive shaft 104. Retractable knob 100 may transition between extended and retracted positions based on an operational state of the vehicle. For example, when the vehicle is powered on, retractable knob 100 may be extended by motor 102. When the vehicle is powered off, retractable knob 100 may be retracted by motor 102. In other examples, motor may retract retractable knob when manual gear selection is not available such as when the vehicle is in an autonomous driving mode.

[0031] In manual use, an operator may manipulate the retractable knob 100 while it is in the extended axial position to select a desired gear setting by aligning the index 112 to the available indices 115, for example P, R, N, D and M. In automated use, the retractable knob 100 may be electromechanically operated and positioned with the motor 102 to select and / or indicate vehicle powertrain transmission states by aligning the index 112 with the indices 115. Mechanical detents may be provided at each of the various index alignments P, R, N, Dand M for position stability and tactile feedback to the operator. In an alternate embodiment, the electric motor 102 may provide position stability and virtual detent tactile feedback to the operator as the retractable knob 100 is manually moved to and through the various index alignments P, R, N, D and M that are detected by sensor 124. Thus, the operator may observe, through tactile feedback through the retractable knob 100, virtual detents at the available index alignments. The operator would therefore observe the system’s preference for and stability in the various available index alignments.

[0032] Similarly, the electric motor 102 may provide increased resistance and opposing force when the operator attempts to manually move outside of available index alignments. Upon manually achieving an index alignment, the operator may feel confident through the detent feedback that the index alignment is stable and the retractable knob may be released. In either manual or automated use, when the vehicle is shut down, the electric motor 102 may rotate the retractable knob 100 such that the pin 116 follows the second region 117B of the slot 117 toward and into the minimum height H2 position, thereby establishing the retractable knob 100 into the retracted position substantially flush with or below the housing 107 outer surface 107A. When the vehicle is turned on, micro-controller 122 may activate the electric motor 102 causing shaft 104 to rotate the retractable knob 100 such that the pin 116 follows the second region 117B of the slot 117 toward and into the maximum height H2 position corresponding to the park index P, thereby establishing the retractable knob 100 into the extended axial position.

[0033] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. The terms “a” and “an” do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced items. The term “or” means “and / or” unless clearly indicated otherwise by context. Reference throughout the specification to “an aspect”, means that a particular element (e.g., feature, structure, step, or characteristic) described in connection with the aspect is included in at least one aspect described herein, and may or may not be present in other aspects. In addition, it is to be understood that the described elements may be combined in any suitable manner in the various aspects.

[0034] All numeric values herein are assumed to be modified by the term “about” whether or not explicitly indicated. For the purposes of the present disclosure, ranges may be expressed as from “about” one particular value to “about” another particular value. The term “about” generally refers to a range of numeric values that one of skill in the art would consider equivalent to the recited numeric value, having the same function or result, orreasonably within manufacturing tolerances of the recited numeric value generally. Similarly, numeric values set forth herein are by way of non-limiting example and may be nominal values, it being understood that actual values may vary from nominal values in accordance with environment, design and manufacturing tolerance, age and other factors.

[0035] When an element such as a layer, film, region, or substrate is referred to as being “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on” another element, there are no intervening elements present. Therefore, unless explicitly described as being “direct,” when a relationship between first and second elements is described in the above disclosure, that relationship may be a direct relationship where no other intervening elements are present between the first and second elements but may also be an indirect relationship where one or more intervening elements are present (either spatially or functionally) between the first and second elements.

[0036] One or more steps within a method may be executed in different order (or concurrently) without altering the principles of the present disclosure. Further, although each of the embodiments is described above as having certain features, any one or more of those features described with respect to any embodiment of the disclosure can be implemented in and / or combined with features of any of the other embodiments, even if that combination is not explicitly described. In other words, the described embodiments are not mutually exclusive, and permutations of one or more embodiments with one another remain within the scope of this disclosure.

[0037] Unless defined otherwise, technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as is commonly understood by one of skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0038] Unless specified to the contrary herein, all test standards are the most recent standard in effect as of the filing date of this application, or, if priority is claimed, the filing date of the earliest priority application in which the test standard appears.

[0039] While the above disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from its scope. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but will include all embodiments falling within the scope thereof.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A retractable knob apparatus for selection and indication of settings for a system, comprising: a knob; an electrical motor including a drive shaft operatively coupled to the knob, the electrical motor capable of applying torque to the knob through the drive shaft, wherein the drive shaft and the knob are configured to rotate about a common axis for the selection and indication of the settings for the system; and a pin extending radially outward from the knob, the pin being constrained within a slot, the slot having a first region and a second region, wherein the first region corresponds to a constant maximum height of the pin, resulting in the knob being at an extended axial position when the pin is within the first region, and the second region corresponds to varying heights of the pin between a maximum height and a minimum height, resulting in the knob being at a lower axial position relative to the extended axial position when the pin is within the second region.

2. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a visible index associated with the knob, wherein the visible index travels with the displacement of the knob.

3. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the pin further comprises a ball or roller bearing.

4. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a plurality of visible indices on a housing, the visible indices remaining fixed relative to the housing, the visible indices representing a plurality of user selectable settings.

5. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of user selectable settings represent vehicle powertrain transmission states, wherein alignment of the visible index on the knob with one of the visible indices represents a current state of the vehicle powertrain transmission.

6. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 4, wherein alignment of the visible index on the knob with each of the visible indices is tactilely indicated with a mechanical detent.

7. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 4, wherein alignment of the visible index on the knob with each of the visible indices is tactilely indicated with a virtual detent torque from the electrical motor.

8. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the electrical motor is configured to rotate the knob to establish a retracted position substantially flush with or below an outer surface of the housing when the system is shut down, and to rotate the knob to establish the extended axial position when the system is turned on.

9. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the electrical motor is configured to rotate the knob to establish a retracted position substantially flush with or below an outer surface of the housing when the plurality of user selectable settings are unavailable regardless of an operational state of the system.

10. The retractable knob apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the knob is a substantially cylindrical knob.

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