Dispensing Machine Pointing Device Visual Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dispensing machines using keypads or dialing wheels for selection require customers to remember and input item codes, leading to potential errors and slow selection processes, as users must look away from the items while making selections.
Innovation Solution
A dispensing machine equipped with a pointing device, such as a roller ball or touch-sensitive window, that allows customers to select items by physical gestures, accompanied by an indicator like LEDs for local illumination, providing clear visual feedback of the selected item without dispensing it, and a control system to manage the selection process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a keypad or dialling wheel is used for item selection, then the machine can process selections, but the customer must look away from the items and remember codes, leading to selection errors and slow selection process
Solution Approach 1:
A light indicator acts as an intermediary between the customer's selection action and the item identification. The light projects a beam onto the specific item, providing immediate visual feedback without requiring the customer to remember codes or look away from the display window, thus improving both accuracy and speed of selection
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides immediate visual feedback through a light indicator that projects a beam of light onto the selected item. This real-time feedback confirms the selection to the customer instantly, eliminating the need to remember codes and reducing selection errors while speeding up the selection process
2Ease of operation
If a transparent touch screen is attached to the window surface, then selection can be made while viewing items, but large-area transparent touch screens are expensive and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the selection indication function from a complex transparent touch screen and implements it through a simpler light indicator system. Instead of using an expensive large-area transparent touch screen with integrated sensors, a separate light projection mechanism provides selection feedback through the window, reducing cost and complexity while maintaining selection accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a complex transparent touch screen that directly interfaces with the window, the invention uses a light indicator that creates a visual copy or representation of the selection by projecting a beam of light onto the selected item. This optical copy provides the necessary selection feedback without requiring expensive transparent electronics
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables quicker, more accurate, and controlled selection processes, reducing errors and enhancing customer interaction by allowing browsing and visual appeal through localized illumination, while potentially reducing costs and interface size.
Implementation Method 1
an indicator like LEDs for local illumination, providing clear visual feedback of the selected item
Data Source
AI summary
A dispensing machine for dispensing items to customers comprising a cabinet having at least one window, a plurality of supports for supporting a plurality of different items to be dispensed to customers, a pointing device for selecting a desired item from the plurality of items, an indicator associated with the pointing device and operable to provide an indication, visible through the window, of which item is being selected by the pointing device without dispensing said selected item, and a dispensing mechanism for dispensing the selected item in response to a dispensing instruction.