Smart human machine interface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current screen-based devices, such as thermostats, lack dynamic adaptability to user types and contexts, leading to suboptimal user experiences, particularly for elderly individuals who may find the content and text format cluttered and confusing, and children who may not benefit from exposed options, with existing devices failing to provide context-based interactions and navigational help.
Innovation Solution
A human-machine interface incorporating an electronic module with a camera and image processor that detects user factors like age, gender, and expressions, dynamically adjusting the display layout and content through cloud-connected image analytics, enabling adaptive and context-aware interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the display shows comprehensive information and options, then the device provides complete functionality, but elderly users find the content and text format cluttered and confusing
Solution Approach 1:
The display dynamically adapts its content, layout, and text format based on the detected age of the user. When an elderly user is detected through the camera module, the system automatically simplifies the interface by reducing clutter, enlarging text, and prioritizing essential information, transforming the static display into a dynamic, user-adaptive interface.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions and elements of the display are adjusted with different qualities based on user characteristics. For elderly users, text size, contrast, and information density are locally modified in different areas of the display to improve readability and reduce cognitive load, while maintaining complete functionality elsewhere in the system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the display exposes all options to users, then the device provides complete control, but children may not benefit from exposed options
Solution Approach 1:
The display dynamically filters and presents options based on the detected age of the user. When a child is detected, the system automatically hides complex or irrelevant options while maintaining access to age-appropriate functions, creating a simplified interface that guides children through relevant controls without overwhelming them.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and hides unnecessary options from the display when children are detected, separating essential child-appropriate controls from advanced features. This extraction principle allows the full functionality to remain available in the system while presenting only the beneficial subset to children at any given moment.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the device provides static interactions, then the device structure remains simple, but the device cannot offer context-based interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The device performs self-service by automatically detecting user characteristics through the camera module and autonomously configuring the display without requiring manual user input. The system serves itself by making real-time decisions about interface adaptation based on detected age, gender, and other factors, eliminating the need for complex manual configuration while providing context-aware interactions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where the camera module continuously monitors users, the processor analyzes detected characteristics, and the display adjusts accordingly. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables context-based interactions by constantly adapting the interface to current user conditions, transforming the static device into a responsive, adaptive system.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure reveals a human machine interface that may incorporate an electronics module and display, a camera module connected to the electronics module, and an image processor connected to the camera module. The camera module may detect a person at the electronic module. An image of the person from the camera module may go to the image processor that outputs factors about the person from the image. The factors may go to the electronics module that automatically configures the display with a presentation that comports to the factors including style and information about the user. The electronic module may be a thermostat. The display may indicate temperature settings and temperatures of rooms in a house. Contents of the display may be derived from a context based interaction between the person and electronic module. The interface may further incorporate a cloud having analytics connected to the image processor and camera module.