Surface-Mounted Button Assembly for Tactile Feedback on Glass
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing button assemblies for substrates in industries like entertainment, defense, and aerospace face issues such as lack of tactile feel, vulnerability to shattering, material ingress, complex construction, and difficulty in reconfiguration, while attempting to combine mechanical buttons with dynamic media display capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A button assembly with a chassis and movable button, biased by magnetic or deformable assemblies, securely attached to a substrate without holes, providing tactile feedback and enhanced structural integrity, allowing for various configurations and easy maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If holes are made in the substrate to mount mechanical buttons, then tactile feel is provided, but the glass becomes prone to shattering and material ingress occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the button mounting function from the substrate by using a separate chassis structure with a flange that attaches to the substrate surface. This eliminates the need for holes in the substrate, removing the vulnerability to shattering and material ingress while preserving the mechanical button's tactile feel through the movable button assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The chassis acts as an intermediary component between the substrate and the movable button. The flange of the chassis attaches to the substrate surface without requiring holes, providing a mounting platform for the button assembly while protecting the substrate from direct exposure to environmental factors and impact forces.
2Ease of manufacture
If holes are made in the substrate for button mounting, then mechanical buttons can be installed, but construction complexity increases and reconfiguration becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the button assembly into distinct components: the chassis with flange, the movable button, and the sensor assembly. The flange is designed as a separate attachment component that can be mounted to the substrate surface without requiring holes, simplifying the overall construction and enabling easier reconfiguration or replacement of button assemblies.
3Ease of operation
If buttons are mounted through holes in the substrate, then tactile feedback is achieved, but the profile height increases making the design cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from a vertical mounting approach (buttons protruding through holes from the substrate) to a surface-mounted approach (flange attached to the substrate surface with buttons extending horizontally). This dimensional change allows the button assembly to maintain a low profile while still providing tactile feedback through the movable button mechanism.
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 solution offers a secure, durable, and reconfigurable button assembly with tactile feedback, preventing material ingress and shattering, while enabling dynamic media display without compromising the substrate's integrity.
Implementation Method 1
one or more magnetic assemblies or magnets
Implementation Method 2
one or more deformable elements or assemblies such as springs or resilient membranes
Data Source
Figure 1~1a
Figure 2~2a
Figure 3~3a
AI summary
A button assembly (1) for a substrate (2) includes a chassis (3) attachable to the substrate (2), a movable button (4) constrained by the chassis (3), one or more button sensors (5) operable to sense the movable button (4), and one or more springs (40) or magnets (6a, 6b). The one or more springs (40) or magnets (6a, 6b) are arranged to bias the movable button (4) towards a predetermined position.