Multi-Zone Touchscreen Layout for Concurrent Multi-Host Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional touchscreen devices are limited to displaying input from a single source at a time, preventing concurrent viewing and interaction with multiple sources.
Innovation Solution
A touchscreen device configured to utilize a single display for controlling multiple computing devices by dividing the display into zones, each receiving and interacting with separate input data streams, allowing simultaneous display and interaction with multiple sources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a touchscreen device displays input from a single source at a time, then the display is simple and easy to control, but the device cannot concurrently view and interact with multiple sources
Solution Approach 1:
The touchscreen display is divided into multiple independent zones, each capable of receiving and processing input from different computing devices simultaneously. This segmentation allows the display to handle multiple data streams without requiring a complete redesign of the display architecture, thus improving multi-device control capability while maintaining manageable complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The touchscreen display is designed to serve multiple functions by accepting input from multiple computing devices through a single interface. The display can simultaneously function as an interface for different devices, eliminating the need for separate displays for each device and enhancing versatility without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a touchscreen device uses multiple displays to control multiple computing devices, then concurrent viewing and interaction with multiple sources is enabled, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple display functions are merged into a single touchscreen display by dividing it into multiple zones. This consolidation allows the system to achieve concurrent multi-source interaction capability while using only one physical display component, thereby reducing overall device complexity and cost compared to using multiple separate displays.
Solution Approach 2:
The single touchscreen display is designed with universal functionality to serve multiple computing devices simultaneously. By making the display multi-functional through zone-based input handling, the system achieves the capability of concurrent multi-source interaction without the need for multiple specialized displays.
3Ease of operation
If a touchscreen device requires switching between channels to view different sources, then the display structure remains simple, but the ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The display is segmented into multiple input zones that can be independently assigned to different computing devices. This segmentation enables intuitive multi-source interaction by allowing users to access different sources simultaneously through different zones without requiring channel switching, while the underlying architecture remains relatively simple through the use of a single display component.
Data Source
AI summary
An example multi-zone touchscreen device is configured to receive multiple feeds of touchscreen display data from different respective data sources. The touchscreen device scales the respective feeds of touchscreen display data for concurrent display in predefined regions of a touch-sensitive display. The touchscreen device receives a touch input in one of the predefined regions of the touch-sensitive display and applies a reverse scaling to the selected touchscreen display data to determine a location of the selection in the original data feed. The touchscreen device then communicates the location of the selection to the source of the original data feed.