Sculpted Touch Screen Display with Piezo Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing touch screen interfaces lack tactile feedback, leading to increased unintended interactions and reduced user satisfaction, particularly in complex user interaction scenarios where visual attention is diverted from the screen.
Innovation Solution
A sculpted and contoured touch screen display with a transparent surface, integrated with a piezo structure or physical switch, providing tactile and haptic feedback to users, allowing for intuitive command actuation and selection without visual reference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a flat transparent touch screen surface is used, then the device maintains simplicity and visual clarity, but the user lacks tactile feedback leading to increased unintended interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature to the touch screen surface by creating sculpted portions with raised contours that correspond to specific interaction zones. These curved tactile features allow users to locate and interact with specific areas through touch alone, providing directional guidance and boundary detection without visual feedback, thereby resolving the contradiction between maintaining a simple flat surface and providing tactile feedback.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by creating specific sculpted portions at predetermined locations on the touch screen surface. Each sculpted portion has distinct tactile characteristics (raised contours, edges, or patterns) that correspond to specific interactive elements or zones. This localized tactile enhancement provides targeted feedback for specific interactions while maintaining the overall simplicity of the flat touch screen surface.
2Measurement precision
If visual attention is required for accurate interaction, then selection precision improves, but user satisfaction decreases when visual attention must be continuously diverted to the screen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the touch screen surface to serve itself by providing inherent tactile markers that guide user interaction without requiring external visual confirmation. The sculpted portions with their distinct tactile characteristics (raised edges, contours, patterns) allow the interface to communicate interactive zones and boundaries directly through touch, making the system self-explanatory and reducing the need for continuous visual monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements tactile feedback through the sculpted surface features that provide immediate physical sensation to the user's finger. When a user touches or approaches the sculpted portions, they receive directional guidance, boundary detection, and zone identification through tactile sensations such as raised edges, contours, or patterns. This real-time tactile feedback loop enables accurate selection without visual attention while maintaining high user satisfaction.
3Ease of operation
If tactile features are added to the touch screen surface, then tactile feedback improves, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs curvature-based sculpting techniques that can be implemented through various manufacturing methods including glass molding, CNC machining, or additive manufacturing. The sculpted portions feature smooth raised contours and edges that follow the curvature of the touch screen surface, allowing for integration with existing manufacturing processes while providing the necessary tactile feedback.
4Ease of operation
If the touch screen surface is modified with sculpted portions, then tactile indication improves, but the transparency and visual clarity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating sculpted portions with precise spatial localization. The raised contours, edges, and patterns are confined to specific zones corresponding to interactive elements, leaving the majority of the touch screen surface flat and fully transparent. This localized sculpting approach provides necessary tactile indication while minimizing impact on overall display visibility and light transmission.
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
Enhances user interaction by reducing unintended actions and increasing satisfaction through tactile and haptic feedback, allowing users to confidently select commands without looking at the screen.
Implementation Method 1
a physical switch where additional pressure by the user may be used to actuated a command associated with a selected portion of the display. Such a switch may be a piezo structure
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are disclosed of a touch screen display wherein the surface of the touch screen display comprises a sculpted and/or contoured portion. The sculpted/contoured portion gives a user a tactile sense of a portion of the touch screen where commands may be actuated and/or data may be selected. The touch screen display may further be in communication with a physical switch where additional pressure by the user may be used to actuated a command associated with a selected portion of the display. Such a switch may be a piezo structure or other type of physical switch that may also be incorporated into a smart device/controller. Other embodiments may comprise haptic and/or audio feedback upon detection of the user's presence at a desired part of the touch screen display.