Protruding Button Plate for Touch Panel Tactile Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional slot machine operation units with touch screens lack the intuitive sense of operation provided by push button arrangements, leading to longer gameplay times and decreased player engagement due to the need for constant verification of input settings.
Innovation Solution
An operation unit featuring a touch panel with a button plate having protruding push buttons, where the button plate includes a base section with apertures, top surface sections, bending deformable sections, and projections that contact the touch panel upon pressing, mimicking the tactile feedback of push buttons while allowing for language-independent displays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a touch panel is used for the operation unit, then the display can be freely changed to correspond to different languages, but the game player cannot obtain a sense of intuitively making an operation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the advantages of both touch panel and push button by combining a touch-sensitive surface with physical button structures. The operation unit includes both the display surface that can show different languages and the protruding button portions that provide tactile feedback, integrating the flexibility of touch panels with the intuitive operation of physical buttons into a single unified interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The operation unit employs a composite structure combining transparent or translucent button portions with underlying touch panel elements. This composite design allows light to pass through the button portions to display information while maintaining the physical presence and tactile properties of buttons, achieving both visual flexibility and tactile intuitiveness.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a touch panel is used for the operation unit, then the display can be freely changed, but the game player needs to check whether the number of bets is correctly set every time, deteriorating the sense of making an operation
Solution Approach 1:
The protruding button portions provide immediate tactile feedback to the game player upon pressing, confirming the input action without requiring visual verification. This tactile confirmation serves as instantaneous feedback that reduces the need to check the display repeatedly, thereby reducing the time required to set parameters like the number of bets.
Solution Approach 2:
The operation unit is segmented into distinct functional zones with protruding button portions for specific operations. This segmentation allows players to quickly locate and operate specific functions without scanning the entire display, reducing the time needed to set parameters while maintaining display flexibility for different languages and information.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a thin display device such as LCD is used with a touch panel, then the display can be freely changed, but the game player cannot obtain a sense of clicking as in push button type arrangement
Solution Approach 1:
The operation unit applies local quality by providing protruding button portions at specific operation locations while maintaining a thin display device overall. The protruding portions are strategically positioned where player input is needed, providing localized tactile feedback and clicking sensation exactly where required, while the rest of the display remains thin and flexible for displaying various information and languages.
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 provides an intuitive operation sense similar to push button arrangements, reducing the need for constant verification and enhancing gameplay speed, while maintaining the flexibility of language-independent displays and preserving the full visibility of the touch panel for information display.
Implementation Method 1
bending deformable sections each connecting, in a freely elastically deformable manner, a peripheral section of corresponding one of the top surface sections and an edge of corresponding one of the apertures formed in the base section
Data Source
AI summary
An operation unit has a touch panel that senses a press, and a button plate disposed above the touch panel, and having a plurality of push buttons, each of which protrudes on a side opposite to a side where the touch panel is disposed. The button plate is provided along a surface of the touch panel, and has a base section having apertures at respective positions where the plurality of push buttons are formed, top surface sections, each of which constitutes corresponding one of the plurality of push buttons and serves as an operation surface, and bending deformable sections, each of which connects, in a freely elastically deformable manner, a peripheral section of corresponding one of the top surface sections and an edge of corresponding one of the apertures formed in the base section.