Touch Panel Tactile Feedback for Visual Impairment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing operating terminals with touch panels do not effectively assist users with impaired vision in intuitively navigating and interacting with images displayed on the screen, as they lack a mechanism to provide tactile feedback for distinguishing between different features in an image.
Innovation Solution
An operating terminal system that includes a touch panel, a determining unit to detect changes in the touched area, and a signal generating unit to produce drive signals for an external device that projects and retracts parts of its surface, allowing users to feel boundaries between image features through tactile feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a touch panel is used for operation, then ease of operation is improved, but users with impaired vision cannot intuitively distinguish image features
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tactile feedback mechanism as an intermediary between the touch panel and the user. When a user touches the display screen, the system detects the touched position and provides tactile feedback through vibration or other haptic responses, mediating the interaction between the visual display and the user's sense of touch. This allows users with impaired vision to perceive image features through tactile sensations rather than relying solely on visual information.
2Device complexity
If visual display only is used, then device complexity is reduced, but accessibility for impaired vision users deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the display device universally accessible by adding multi-functionality to the touch panel. The same touch panel that provides visual interaction also provides tactile feedback through vibration motors or haptic actuators integrated into the display structure. This allows the device to serve both visually impaired users and able-bodied users, enhancing adaptability without requiring separate specialized devices.
3Adaptability or versatility
If tactile feedback mechanism is added, then accessibility for impaired vision users is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the tactile feedback mechanism with the existing display structure. Vibration motors or haptic actuators are integrated into the display assembly, allowing the same component structure to serve both visual display and tactile feedback functions. This combining approach reduces the overall device complexity compared to having separate independent systems for visual and tactile output.
Data Source
AI summary
An operating terminal operates an external device for projecting and retracting a part of the external device, and includes: a display unit that displays an image; a touch panel on the display unit, and configured to detect a touched area of an object and to receive a position signal in response to the touched area; a determining unit that determines a change of the touched area on the touch panel, based on the position signal; a detecting unit that detects a boundary of areas having different features in the touched area in the image; and a signal generating unit that generates a drive signal indicating a drive amount for causing the part of the external device to be projected and retracted, based on a determination result by the determining unit and a detection result by the detecting unit, and outputs the drive signal to the external device.