Touch Sensitive Vehicle Console With Integrated Lighting Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current console assemblies in passenger vehicles lack an integrated, user-friendly touch-sensitive interface that can efficiently control various vehicle features and provide intuitive feedback through lighting, particularly for indicating vehicle conditions.
Innovation Solution
A console assembly featuring a touch-sensitive panel with a flexible circuit board, integrated lighting, and adjustable color illumination, allowing users to control aspects like sunroof, HVAC, and door locks, with indicators for vehicle conditions, using a combination of touch-sensitive switches and LED lighting to provide intuitive feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional control interfaces are used in console assemblies, then the device structure is simple, but the ease of operation and user feedback are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the touch-sensitive panel, circuit board, and housing into an integrated console assembly unit. The circuit board is mounted within the housing and electrically connected to the touch-sensitive panel, creating a unified control interface that improves ease of operation while managing complexity through systematic integration of components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical switches and physical buttons with a touch-sensitive panel that detects touch inputs through electrical fields. This substitution eliminates moving parts, reduces mechanical complexity, and provides more intuitive user interaction while maintaining reliable control functionality.
2Ease of operation
If touch-sensitive panels are integrated into console assemblies, then the ease of operation improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The circuit board and touch-sensitive panel are integrated into a unified assembly where the circuit board is mounted within the housing and directly connected to the panel. This merging approach consolidates control functions and reduces the number of separate components, managing complexity while enabling advanced touch-sensitive operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The circuit board is designed to handle multiple functions including processing touch inputs from the panel, controlling vehicle features, and coordinating with lighting indicators. This multi-functional design reduces the need for separate dedicated circuits for each function, managing complexity while providing comprehensive control capabilities.
3Loss of information
If lighting indicators are added to provide feedback, then the information provision improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting indicators are integrated with the touch-sensitive panel and housing assembly, with lights positioned around the panel perimeter and within the housing structure. This merging approach provides comprehensive visual feedback for vehicle conditions while maintaining a compact, unified console design that manages complexity through systematic component integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting indicators provide real-time visual feedback about vehicle conditions such as door status, window position, and system alerts. This feedback mechanism informs users of system states without requiring them to interpret complex interface displays, reducing information loss while the integrated design manages the added complexity of the lighting system.
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
Enables seamless control of vehicle features and intuitive condition indication, enhancing user experience and safety through a user-friendly interface that integrates touch-sensitive technology with lighting feedback.
Implementation Method 1
a light guide arranged at an outer periphery of the panel, and a light source adjacent an end of the light guide and configured to direct light along the light guide
Implementation Method 2
the light source is an LED
Data Source
AI summary
A console assembly for a vehicle according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a touch-sensitive panel providing at least one touch-sensitive switch, and a circuit electrically connected to the at least one switch. The circuit is configured to receive one or more inputs from the touch-sensitive panel and issue commands to control one or more aspects of the vehicle.