Touch Panel Operation Unit with Button Plate for Slot Machines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional slot machine operation units with touch screens lack the intuitive sense of operation provided by push button arrangements, leading to increased time and effort for players to set bets and initiate spins, as players must constantly verify their inputs on the screen.
Innovation Solution
An operation unit incorporating a touch panel with a button plate featuring protruding push buttons and a light guide plate that provides a tactile and visual feedback similar to push button systems, allowing for intuitive operation and dynamic language support through a combination of touch panel and light guide plate functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a touch panel is used for the operation unit, then the display can be freely changed to correspond to different languages, but the game player cannot have a sense of intuitively making an operation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the advantages of both touch panels and push buttons by integrating a button plate with physical push buttons over the touch panel. This combination allows the system to provide both the language adaptability of digital displays and the intuitive tactile feedback of physical buttons, resolving the contradiction between versatility and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The button plate serves as an intermediary between the touch panel and the user's finger. It provides tactile feedback and visual presentation while the touch panel handles the flexible display content. This intermediary layer enables intuitive operation while maintaining display adaptability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a touch panel is used for the operation unit, then the display can be freely changed, but the game player needs to check whether the number of bets is correctly set every time the game player touches the screen
Solution Approach 1:
The button plate provides immediate visual and tactile feedback when pressed, confirming the player's input without requiring them to check the screen. This feedback mechanism reduces the time needed to set bets by eliminating the verification step, while the touch panel maintains its display flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The operation unit is segmented into two functional layers: the button plate for tactile input and confirmation, and the touch panel for flexible display. This segmentation allows each component to specialize in its strength, reducing overall operation time while maintaining adaptability.
3Ease of operation
If a conventional push button arrangement is used, then the game player can have a sense of intuitively making an operation, but the display cannot be freely changed
Solution Approach 1:
The button plate serves multiple functions: it provides tactile feedback for intuitive operation, visual presentation for language-specific displays, and input confirmation. This multi-functionality allows the system to maintain the advantages of push buttons while adding the language adaptability of digital displays.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines the tactile advantages of push buttons with the display flexibility of touch panels in a single integrated operation unit. The button plate and touch panel work together to provide both intuitive operation and language adaptability simultaneously.
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 enhances the user experience by providing a sense of intuitive operation and quick gameplay, reducing the need for constant screen verification and allowing for a more engaging and speedy gaming experience while maintaining the flexibility of language support.
Implementation Method 1
bending deformable sections each connecting, in a freely elastically deformable manner, a peripheral section of corresponding one of the top surface sections and an edge of corresponding one of the apertures formed in the base section
Implementation Method 2
a light guide plate provided between the touch panel and the button plate, the light guide plate having a light emission pattern for forming an image by emitted light
Data Source
AI summary
An operation unit has a touch panel that senses a press, a button plate disposed above the touch panel, and having a plurality of push buttons, each of which protrudes on a side opposite to a side where the touch panel is disposed, a light guide plate disposed between the touch panel and the button plate, and a light emission pattern disposed on a surface of the light guide plate that forms an image by emitted light. The button plate is provided along a surface of the touch panel and has a base section comprising apertures at respective positions where the plurality of push buttons are formed, top surface sections, each of which constitutes corresponding one of the plurality of push buttons and serving as an operation surface.