Reconfigurable Direction Pad Using Cam-Driven Fill Spacers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional user input devices, such as gaming controllers, are inflexible and lack reconfigurability, limiting their ability to adapt to different applications and user preferences, as they typically offer fixed button layouts and axis configurations.
Innovation Solution
A user input device with a configurable direction pad that can be reconfigured through mechanical interactions, allowing it to function in multiple modes by restricting input along specific axes, providing tactile and visual feedback, and featuring a configuration wheel and lockout tabs to change its layout and feel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a user input device uses a fixed button layout and axis configuration, then the device structure is simple and reliable, but the device lacks adaptability to different applications and user preferences
Solution Approach 1:
The direction pad is designed with movable fill spacers that can dynamically change position between raised and lowered states. This dynamic configuration allows the same physical structure to provide different input experiences (e.g., restricted axis input vs. full directional input) without requiring multiple separate devices or complex electronic reconfiguration systems
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameter of the fill spacers (their height/position) to alter the functional characteristics of the direction pad. By rotating the configuration wheel, the cam mechanism changes the vertical position parameter of selected fill spacers, thereby changing whether those spacers restrict movement along particular axes. This parameter change approach allows one structure to serve multiple functions
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different button layouts are provided on a single controller to support different applications, then the adaptability increases, but the device complexity and number of components increase
Solution Approach 1:
The direction pad structure is designed as a universal component that can perform multiple functions through simple mechanical reconfiguration. The same four input arms and fill spacers can provide different input patterns (single-axis restriction, dual-axis restriction, or no restriction) based on the configuration wheel position, eliminating the need for multiple separate directional control mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The direction pad is segmented into independent functional elements (four input arms and four fill spacers) that can be individually configured. Each fill spacer can be independently raised or lowered by the cam mechanism, allowing selective restriction of different axes without affecting other parts of the direction pad, thus providing multiple configurations from a single set of components
Data Source
AI summary
A single user input element can be used in four different modes including a first mode in which the user input element mimics a single button by restricting input along multiple axes, a second mode in which the user input element restricts input to a first axis, a third mode in which the user input element restricts input to a second axis, and a fourth mode in which the user has no restrictions to user input. A rotational cam may be used to interact with shuttle pins that control the height of a surface (e.g., an up/down position) of the plurality of fill spacers to change a look and/or feel of the user input element. A rotational structure which has lockout tabs to prevent individual rotational axis from being rotated depending on the configuration of the input device. These aspects may provide a reconfigurable direction pad for a game controller.