Touch Screen Shift Actuator with Confirmation Field
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gear selector levers for vehicle transmissions are often cumbersome, difficult to use, and require significant installation space, while existing touch-screen solutions for shift stage selection can be complex and not intuitive.
Innovation Solution
A touch-screen actuating device employing the drag-and-drop principle with a capacitive or resistive touch screen, featuring a display and touch field for selecting shift stages, a confirmation field for verifying selections, and haptic elements for user guidance, allowing for secure, simple, and intuitive shift stage changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a conventional gear selector lever is used, then the shift stage selection is mechanically reliable, but the device requires significant installation space and is difficult to use
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional mechanical gear selector lever with a touch-sensitive display device that uses electronic sensing and visual feedback mechanisms. The touch-sensitive fields detect user input through capacitive, resistive, or other sensing methods, eliminating the need for mechanical linkages, shift gates, and physical lever movements, thereby reducing installation space while maintaining selection functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a visual representation (icon or symbol) of the shift stage selection on the display screen, allowing users to select gear stages by touching the displayed graphic rather than manipulating a physical lever. This virtual copy of the selection mechanism reduces the physical space required while preserving the selection function
2Ease of operation
If a touch screen with drag-and-drop principle is used, then the device is space-efficient and easy to use, but the selection process may be prone to accidental selections
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a two-step selection process where the user first touches a display field to initiate selection, then must subsequently touch a separate confirmation field to finalize the selection. This preliminary action followed by confirmation prevents accidental selections by requiring deliberate user intent before executing the gear change
Solution Approach 2:
The patent provides visual feedback through the display screen that shows which shift stage is currently selected and confirms when the selection has been finalized. The system displays the selected icon or symbol and provides visual confirmation signals, allowing users to verify their selection before it takes effect, thereby preventing accidental selections
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple shift stages are displayed, then the device provides comprehensive control options, but the interface becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the display screen into multiple separate touch-sensitive display fields, with each field representing a different shift stage selection option. Each field can be independently touched and confirmed, allowing comprehensive control options while maintaining a simple, modular interface structure that avoids complexity through clear segmentation of functions
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 provides a space-efficient, user-friendly method for selecting and confirming shift stages, preventing accidental selections and enabling rapid gear changes with clear visual feedback, enhancing the overall usability and efficiency of vehicle transmission control.
Implementation Method 1
In a capacitive touch screen the screen surface is equipped with an electrical field produced by accordingly arranged electrodes. An interface with the touch screen causes a detectable change in the electric field, whereby the exact position of the contact point can be determined.
Implementation Method 2
In a resistive touch screen, the screen surface is formed by two electrically conductive films spaced from each other by spacers. By applying a suitable pressure on the top film facing a user, it comes into electrically conductive contact with the other lower film, whereby the exact position of the contact point can be determined.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to an actuating device for selecting shift stages of a vehicle transmission with shift-by-wire actuation. The actuating device has a touch screen having at least one display section for displaying a selectable shift stage and a contact section to select the displayed shift stage. The actuating device is characterized in that the display section and the contact section form a common display and contact section, and that the touch screen comprises a confirmation section which is adjacent to the display and touch section for displaying the selected shift stage, and is coupled to the display and touch section such that by a contacting sweep of the touch screen from the display and contact section to the confirmation section a displayed selectable shift stage can be selected for effective switching position of the change gear.