Multi-Touch Display Input Selection with OS Status Feedback

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing technologies for multi-monitor touch-screen environments face challenges in accurately determining which monitor receives touch input and ensuring users recognize the status of their input, often requiring dedicated controllers and applications, and lack user recognition of input enablement.

Innovation Solution

An information processing apparatus with a control unit that selects and transmits touch data from multiple touch-screen devices, providing selection status information to each device and the operating system, allowing users to recognize their input status.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If a dedicated controller and dedicated application program are used for assigning terminal IDs to handwriting input information from multiple users, then the system can handle simultaneous touch input on multiple monitors, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecapability to handle simultaneous touch input on multiple monitorsVSAvoidrequirement for dedicated controller and application program
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent makes the operating system itself universal by enabling it to directly handle touch input from multiple monitors without requiring dedicated controllers or applications. The OS uses existing APIs and resources to assign terminal IDs and process touch data, allowing any standard application to receive touch input through the OS's unified mechanism.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts the touch input handling functionality from dedicated controllers and applications, concentrating it within the operating system core. By implementing terminal ID assignment and touch data routing within the OS itself, the system eliminates the need for separate dedicated hardware controllers and specialized application programs.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Ease of operation

If touch input handling is centralized in the operating system without status feedback, then the system simplicity is maintained, but users cannot recognize whether their input is enabled

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveuser recognition of input statusVSAvoidinformation transmission and processing overhead
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements feedback by having the operating system transmit selection status information back to the touch-screen display devices. This allows users to visually recognize whether their monitor is currently enabled for touch input, providing immediate feedback about the system state without requiring complex user interaction.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses visual status indicators (such as highlighting or color changes on the display) to communicate the selection status to users. When a monitor is selected for receiving touch input, it is visually distinguished from non-selected monitors, providing intuitive status feedback through display characteristics.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #32Color changes

Data Source

PatentEP4708006A1Information processing apparatus, information processing system, information processing method, and carrier medium
Publication Date: 2026.03.11 RICOH CO LTD
  • EP4708006A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4708006A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4708006A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

An information processing apparatus (10) installed with an operating system (101) that provides an application programming interface includes a touch data reception unit (1002) to receive touch data from multiple touch-screen display devices (20) connected to the information processing apparatus (10), a touch data transmission unit (1005) configured to transmit the touch data to the operating system (101), and a control unit (1000) configured to select one of the multiple touch-screen display devices (20) to allow the touch data from the selected touch-screen display device (20) to be transmitted to the operating system (101). The control unit (1000) transmits, to each of the multiple touch-screen display devices (20), selection status information indicating whether the touch-screen display device (20) is selected.