Retractable Privacy Barrier for Computer Terminals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Computer terminals, such as ATMs, often provide inadequate privacy to users in public spaces, allowing others to view sensitive information and reducing user awareness of their surroundings.
Innovation Solution
A computer terminal equipped with a retractable privacy barrier attached to an actuator, which extends to reduce viewability upon detecting a trigger event, such as a user's presence or environmental conditions, while monitoring and displaying environmental parameters to maintain user awareness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If environmental monitoring and display functions are added to maintain user awareness, then user safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system makes the existing display serve multiple functions: it displays transaction information, privacy barrier status, and environmental awareness data. By reusing the existing display hardware for multiple purposes, the system achieves enhanced safety functionality without proportionally increasing device complexity, as the display already exists as a core component.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines the environmental monitoring function with the existing privacy barrier and display system. Rather than creating separate independent systems, the environmental awareness features are integrated into the same hardware platform, sharing components like the display and control logic, thus reducing overall system complexity while maintaining safety improvements.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer terminal located in an environment may include an actuator, retractable privacy barrier attached to the computer terminal by the actuator, a display, a memory, a processor, and a terminal application stored in the memory. The actuator is typically configured to extend the retractable privacy barrier to thereby reduce viewability of the computer terminal. The terminal application is typically configured for initiating an interactive session with a user, determining that a trigger event has occurred, and in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred, transmitting a control signal to the actuator, the control signal causing the actuator to extend the retractable privacy barrier. The present invention is further configured for monitoring one or more parameters of the environment, and displaying, via the display, data associated with the one or more parameters of the environment.