Input Device With Stacked Navigation Key And Touch Unit
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional input devices, such as remote controllers, require users to press navigation keys one by one, making it time-consuming and inconvenient to select desired media contents or video frames.
Innovation Solution
An input device with a navigation key and a touch unit that allows users to input rotation while touching the unit, enabling faster and more intuitive selection of media contents by controlling movement on a user interface screen based on direction inputs and rotation inputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users press navigation keys one by one to select media contents, then the selection process is simple to implement, but it takes too much time and is inconvenient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical button-pressing system with a touch-sensitive surface that detects finger contact and movement. This substitution allows users to interact with the interface by touching and sliding their fingers across the surface, enabling continuous and rapid input without the discrete steps required by traditional buttons. The touch-sensitive surface converts mechanical finger movements into digital signals that control content navigation at much higher speeds.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic interaction through the touch-sensitive surface, where users can slide their fingers continuously across the surface to navigate content. This dynamic sliding motion allows for rapid sequential selection of multiple items without lifting the finger, creating a fluid and adaptive navigation experience that responds to the speed and path of finger movement, thereby significantly reducing selection time compared to static button pressing.
2Productivity
If users press each navigation key sequentially, then the control method is simple, but the selection speed cannot reach 108 milliseconds or higher
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple navigation functions into a single integrated touch-sensitive surface. This unified surface combines directional navigation, item selection, and potentially other controls into one interface element, allowing users to perform multiple operations simultaneously or in rapid succession through continuous finger movement, thereby increasing productivity without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The touch-sensitive surface serves multiple functions: it detects touch location for item selection, detects sliding direction for navigation, and can detect speed of movement for controlling playback or scrolling rate. This multi-functionality allows a single input mechanism to handle diverse control needs, enabling high-speed content selection while maintaining relatively simple device architecture.
3Speed
If a touch unit is added to enable rotation input, then the speed of media content selection is improved, but the device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the navigation key and touch unit into a stacked structure where the touch-sensitive surface is positioned above the navigation keys. This integration allows the touch surface to provide rotational and sliding input functions while the underlying navigation keys remain available for traditional button input, combining multiple input modalities in a compact layered arrangement that enhances speed without excessive structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a vertical dimension to the input interface by stacking the touch-sensitive surface above the navigation keys in the Z-dimension. This layered structure enables users to interact with the interface through both horizontal sliding motions on the touch surface and vertical pressing motions on the keys below, utilizing multiple spatial dimensions to provide richer, faster control options while maintaining a compact overall form factor.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is an input device which allows a user to select desired contents more quickly and intuitively in selection of contents. The input device includes: a navigation key manipulated to select one direction among a plurality of directions; a touch unit which is manipulated by a user to input rotation while the user touches the touch unit with a portion of the body; and a control unit which controls movement on a user interface screen of a target device based on one or more direction inputs corresponding to the navigation key and a rotation input on the touch unit, wherein the navigation key and the touch unit are coupled with each other in a stacked structure.