Slot Machine Operation Unit with Peripheral Spring Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional slot machine operation units with elastic members like rubber increase thickness, causing the display image of the LCD to appear further away from the user, and are inconvenient to adapt for foreign languages due to the need to remove top surface covers.
Innovation Solution
A thin operation unit design featuring a button portion that moves in a pressing direction, accompanied by first and second slide portions and a biasing member, which provide an intuitive clicking feeling without the need for a rear-mounted elastic member, allowing for a thinner profile and easier language adaptation by using light-transmitting buttons and inclined surfaces to disperse loads and prevent rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If rubber serving as an elastic member is arranged between the operation button and the circuit board, then an intuitive operation feeling (clicking feeling) is provided to the user, but the thickness of the operation unit increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional rubber elastic member with a spring element that has a coiled configuration. This spring element is positioned at the periphery of the button rather than between the button and circuit board, substituting the mechanical compression mechanism with a peripheral spring mechanism that achieves the same operational feedback while reducing thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring element is arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the pressing direction of the button. By orienting the spring's compression axis perpendicular to the button press direction, the elastic member is positioned laterally rather than vertically, thereby reducing the thickness in the pressing direction while maintaining the operational spring mechanism.
2Adaptability or versatility
If top surface covers of buttons are removed using a tool to insert a sheet corresponding to a foreign language, then display can be adapted to foreign languages, but the buttons may be damaged by the tool and the process is inconvenient
Solution Approach 1:
The button structure is divided into separate components: a removable top surface cover and a button body. The top surface cover can be detached without tools and replaced with different language versions, allowing easy adaptation while preventing damage to the button body since no tools are needed for the operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The top surface cover serves multiple functions: it provides the display surface for the button label, acts as a protective layer, and functions as a removable component that can be exchanged for different language versions. This universal design allows the same button structure to support multiple languages through simple cover replacement.
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 design provides an intuitive operation feeling while maintaining a thin profile, improving operability and reducing the distance between the button and display, thus enhancing user experience and display quality by eliminating the thickness-related image displacement issue.
Implementation Method 1
a biasing member that biases the second slide portion in a direction of preventing movement in the third direction of the second slide portion
Implementation Method 2
using light-transmitting buttons and inclined surfaces to disperse loads
Data Source
AI summary
An operation portion support portion that moves in a Z direction in response to a pressing operation performed by a user, a first slide portion that is arranged at a position covering the periphery in the X direction and Y direction of the operation portion support portion and moves in the Y direction, which is orthogonal to the Z direction, due to the operation portion support portion moving in the Z direction, a second slide portion that is arranged at a position adjacent in the Y direction to the first slide portion and moves in the X direction, which is orthogonal to the Z direction and Y direction due to the first slide portion moving in the Y direction, and a biasing member that biases the second slide portion in the −X direction are included.