Industrial Truck Display Dynamic Area Adjustment

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional industrial truck displays overwhelm users with multiple types of information, making it difficult to quickly identify relevant data during operation, leading to potential safety hazards and inefficiencies.

Innovation Solution

An industrial truck with a controller that dynamically adjusts the display area of control information based on the truck's operational status, prioritizing material handling or movement information to ensure the user focuses on the most critical data without needing multiple displays.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If multiple types of control information are displayed simultaneously on the display, then the display provides comprehensive information about truck operation, but the user cannot quickly identify relevant information under current circumstances

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvequantity of informationVSAvoidease of information identification
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The display dynamically adjusts the display area of different control information based on the current operational status of the industrial truck. The controller determines which information is most relevant at any given moment and allocates display space accordingly, making the display adaptive rather than static. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining comprehensive information availability while enabling quick identification of relevant data through dynamic reconfiguration.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

Different regions of the display are allocated different qualities or priorities based on operational context. When material handling is the current operation, material handling information receives enhanced display area and prominence. This local quality differentiation allows the user to quickly identify relevant information without being overwhelmed by all available data, resolving the contradiction between comprehensive information and ease of identification.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

2Loss of information

If all control information is displayed with equal visibility, then no information is hidden, but the user spends excessive time reading the display and attention is distracted from operation

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation visibilityVSAvoidtime spent reading display
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The display system dynamically reconfigures information presentation based on operational status, adjusting which information is most visible at any moment. This dynamic adaptation ensures that all information remains potentially visible while minimizing the time needed to find relevant data, as the display proactively highlights context-relevant information rather than requiring the user to search through static equal-weighted data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system extracts and prioritizes the most relevant information based on current operational context, presenting it with enhanced visibility while maintaining access to other information. This extraction of critical information from the full data set reduces the time users need to spend reading the display while ensuring no important information is completely hidden, resolving the contradiction between full visibility and time efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Ease of operation

If a larger display or multiple displays are used to show all information clearly, then information readability improves, but the device complexity and size increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation readabilityVSAvoiddisplay system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

A single display dynamically adapts its content presentation based on operational status, eliminating the need for multiple displays or a larger display system. By reconfiguring which information receives prominent display space according to context, the system achieves high readability without increasing hardware complexity, resolving the contradiction between readability and device complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The single display performs multiple functions by dynamically adjusting its content prioritization based on operational context. It serves as both a comprehensive information source and a focused attention guide depending on the situation, replacing what would otherwise require multiple specialized displays. This multi-functionality achieves high readability while maintaining simple device architecture.

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

Data Source

PatentEP3981732A1Industrial truck with improved display function
Publication Date: 2022.04.13 TOYOTA MATERIAL HANDLING MFG ITAL SPA
  • EP3981732A1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3981732A1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3981732A1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

An industrial truck (10) includes: -a chassis (11), -a mast (12) pivotally mounted on the chassis, -a lifting element (13) for lifting a load (14), the lifting element being mounted on the mast in a slidable manner along the mast, -a display (17), -a controller (40) configured to generate a plurality of pieces of control information of different types, and to control the display to display one or more of the generated pieces of control information, wherein the plurality of pieces of control information includes at least: -material handling information (21, 22, 31, 32, 34, 35) relating to the handling of the load by the lifting element including one or more among a height of the lifting element (22), a load weight on the lifting element (21, 31), and a mast tilt angle (21, 32), -movement information (19, 20, 26, 33, 36) relating to the movement of the industrial truck including one or more among the speed of the industrial truck (19), an indication of the trajectory of the industrial truck (20), and the driving direction (20), wherein the controller is configured to control the display to vary a display area of at least one of the material handling information and the movement information based on a current status of the industrial truck, wherein the controller (40) is configured to control the display (17) to display simultaneously the material handling information (21, 22) and the movement information (19, 20) before and after varying the display area of one of the material handling information and the movement information based on the current status of the industrial truck.