Remote Controller Tactile Feedback for Touch Panel Usability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of remote controllers with touch panel displays face inconvenience due to the difficulty in identifying object locations by touch, requiring visual confirmation, especially when operating display devices like televisions.
Innovation Solution
A remote operation device with a display panel, housing, detection unit, and display control unit that displays objects near characteristic areas of the housing, such as corners or edges, allowing users to manipulate objects by touch without visual confirmation, using a detection unit to remotely operate electronic devices based on selection or gesture operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If objects are displayed on a touch panel display for remote operation, then the electronic device can be operated remotely, but the user cannot easily identify object locations by touch and must visually confirm them
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary tactile feedback mechanism between the user's finger and the touch panel. A vibration generator produces localized vibrations at the position where the user touches the panel, serving as a mediator that confirms the touch location without requiring visual confirmation. This resolves the contradiction by enabling remote operation while maintaining tactile detectability of object locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies the concept of sensory feedback changes by using vibration patterns and intensity variations to indicate different object locations and states. Different vibration characteristics (frequency, intensity, pattern) serve as tactile 'colors' that convey information about the touched object's position, selection state, and operational status, allowing users to distinguish object locations through tactile perception rather than visual confirmation.
2Reliability
If visual confirmation is required to manipulate objects on the touch panel, then erroneous manipulation is prevented, but the user feels inconvenient especially when wanting to look at the display screen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements immediate tactile feedback through vibration generation upon user touch. The vibration generator produces localized vibrations that confirm to the user the exact position and state of the touched object, providing real-time feedback that ensures manipulation accuracy. This feedback loop allows users to confidently manipulate objects without visual confirmation, improving both reliability and ease of operation simultaneously.
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If the housing is formed with characteristic areas for tactile identification, then object locations can be identified by touch, but the device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the vibration generator serve multiple functions: it provides tactile feedback for object location identification, indicates selection states, confirms operations, and guides user interaction. This multi-functional approach allows the same component to address various tactile identification needs without requiring separate structural features for each function, thereby reducing overall device complexity while maintaining comprehensive tactile identification capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A remote operation device is provided which includes a display panel for displaying an object, a housing formed along an outer edge of the display panel, a detection unit for detecting a selection operation on the object on the display panel, a remote operation unit for remotely operating an electronic device according to the detected selection operation, and a display control unit for displaying on the display panel the object near a characteristic area of the housing identifiable by touch.