Moveable Touchscreen With Flexible Sidewalls for Tactile Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Touchscreen input/output devices for portable electronic devices lack a user-desirable tactile quality, leading to a poor user experience due to their inability to provide positive feedback for input actions.
Innovation Solution
A moveable touchscreen display unit with a mechanical switch and flexible sidewalls that actuate when sufficient force is applied, providing a tactile response through the movement of the display towards the base, which includes a processor and operational components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a touchscreen display is made moveable with flexible sidewalls to provide tactile feedback, then user interaction quality is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions into the flexible sidewalls: they provide tactile feedback through flexing, act as a dust shield for components, and serve as a biasing mechanism through their resilient nature. This integration of multiple functions into a single component structure reduces overall device complexity while improving user interaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible sidewalls are designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: providing tactile feedback to the user, protecting internal components from dust, and maintaining the display in a non-actuated position through biasing. This multi-functionality addresses the contradiction by improving ease of operation without proportionally increasing device complexity.
2Ease of operation
If flexible sidewalls are used to enable display movement for switch actuation, then tactile feedback is provided, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible sidewalls utilize material property changes (flexibility and resilience) to enable the display to move and return to position. By changing the physical parameters of the sidewall material to be flexible yet resilient, the system provides tactile feedback through natural material behavior rather than complex mechanical mechanisms, thereby reducing manufacturing precision requirements.
3Reliability
If the display is biased in a non-actuated position using flexible sidewalls, then accidental actuation is prevented, but the force required for intentional actuation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible sidewalls provide a biasing force that prevents accidental actuation by keeping the display in a non-actuated position. The resilient nature of the sidewalls means they exert continuous partial force to maintain position, while allowing sufficient movement when deliberate force is applied. This partial action approach ensures reliability without requiring excessive force for intentional actuation.
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
The solution enhances user interaction by providing a positive tactile quality during input operations, improving the overall user experience by actuating a mechanical switch with force application, while also serving as a dust shield and biasing the display to prevent accidental actuation.
Implementation Method 1
flexible sidewalls extending around a periphery of the display and a periphery of the base and connecting the display to the base to: bias the display in a position in which the mechanical switch is not actuated; and flex when a force is applied at any location on the display to facilitate movement of the display towards the base to actuate the mechanical switch
Data Source
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Figure 3
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AI summary
A moveable touchscreen display unit includes a base; a display device connected to the base by flexible sidewalls that extend between the base and the display device; a touch-sensitive input surface overlying the display device; and a mechanical switch disposed between a back surface of the display device and the base. The display device moves relative to the base in response to application of sufficient force on the display device. This movement results in the actuation of the mechanical switch, which generates an electrical signal and a tactile feedback.