Breathing Apparatus Interface Dual-Touch Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing breathing apparatus user interfaces increase the risk of unintentional changes to critical settings, potentially affecting patient safety due to the need to interact with both touch screens and external controls.
Innovation Solution
A user interface with a contact-sensitive screen requiring simultaneous two-point touch to change settings, utilizing a 'dead man's handle' mechanism to minimize accidental changes, where the first and second touch areas are at least 1 cm apart to prevent unintentional contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single touch area is used to change breathing apparatus settings, then the ease of operation is improved, but the reliability deteriorates due to increased risk of unintentional changes
Solution Approach 1:
The touch-sensitive screen is divided into multiple independent touch areas (first touch area for parameter selection, second touch area for confirmation). This segmentation requires two separate intentional actions to change a setting, reducing the risk of unintentional changes while maintaining ease of use through the intuitive touch interface.
2Reliability
If external controls (rotary knob, buttons) are used in addition to touch screen, then the reliability is improved by reducing unintentional changes, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The confirmation function is merged into the touch-sensitive screen by adding a second touch area, combining the selection and confirmation functions into a single integrated interface. This eliminates the need for separate external controls while maintaining reliability through the two-touch requirement.
3Ease of operation
If two touch areas are placed close together, then the ease of operation is improved, but the reliability deteriorates due to risk of simultaneous unintentional contact
Solution Approach 1:
The touch areas are positioned at specific locations on the screen with appropriate spacing. The first touch area is positioned for easy access for parameter selection, while the second touch area (confirmation area) is positioned at a distance that prevents accidental simultaneous contact but remains accessible for intentional confirmation actions.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a user interface for a breathing apparatus (1). The user interface comprises a contact-sensitive screen (3) which is operable to cause a change in the operation of the breathing apparatus based on touch input from an operator. To this end, the contact-sensitive screen comprises a first touch area (8) through which a breathing apparatus setting can be changed by the touch of the operator, and at least a second touch area (9) at a distance from said first touch area. To avoid unintentional changes of the breathing apparatus setting, the user interface is configured such that the breathing apparatus setting can only be changed by touching said first (8) and second (9) touch areas simultaneously.