Vehicle Input Device Using Finger Count for Accurate Touch Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional input devices for vehicles struggle to accurately select intended regions on a touch panel while driving, leading to unintended inputs into the user interface displayed on the vehicle's display, due to the difficulty in being conscious of finger positions during driving.
Innovation Solution
An input device with a touch sensor and controller that selects regions based on the count of fingers or taps, allowing accurate selection of intended regions without conscious awareness of finger positions, and provides gesture guides to assist in selecting desired screens, thereby inhibiting unintended inputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a touch panel is used for vehicle operation input, then the ease of operation is improved, but the reliability deteriorates due to unintended inputs when the user is doing other work
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of touch input recognition from position-based to count-based. Instead of recognizing inputs based on finger position on the touch panel, the system counts the number of fingers touching the panel and uses this count to determine the selected region. This parameter change allows the system to maintain ease of operation while improving reliability by eliminating the need for precise positional awareness during driving.
2Measurement precision
If the user focuses on the finger position to make accurate input, then the manufacturing precision of input accuracy is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to increased cognitive load during driving
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional approach by not asking the user to control finger position for input accuracy, but rather to simply place fingers on the touch panel without visual feedback. The system then determines the input based on the count of touching fingers rather than their positions. This inversion eliminates the cognitive load of monitoring finger positions while maintaining input accuracy through count-based recognition.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the display region is divided into multiple regions for different functions, then the adaptability is improved, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring the intended region increases when the user cannot visually confirm finger position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the positional information requirement from the multi-region selection process. Instead of requiring the user to visually detect which region their finger is in, the system extracts only the count of touching fingers as the determining factor. This allows the display to be divided into multiple functional regions while eliminating the difficulty of detecting the intended region, as the system uses finger count rather than position to determine selection.
Data Source
AI summary
An input device for a vehicle that performs input for operating a user interface (UI) displayed by a display disposed in a vehicle includes: a touch sensor that receives a touch input by a user; and a controller that selects, when the touch input into the touch sensor is a touch with a plurality of fingers or a plurality of taps, a region corresponding to the count of touches with the fingers or the count of taps, from among a plurality of regions displayed by the display.