Vehicle Touch Display With 3D Faceplate for Tactile Input Accuracy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle user interfaces, particularly two-dimensional touch-sensitive displays, face challenges in providing accurate input due to lack of feedback and increased driver distraction, while physical buttons offer stability but lack integration with digital content.
Innovation Solution
A user interface that combines a two-dimensional touch-sensitive display with an optical faceplate featuring a contact surface, a three-dimensional display surface, and an optic light guide material, allowing for enhanced user interaction through both touch input and three-dimensional gestures, integrating physical affordance with digital information display.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a two-dimensional touch-sensitive display is used to capture user input, then the number of functions is increased, but input accuracy and user feedback are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines a two-dimensional touch-sensitive display with a three-dimensional optical faceplate into a single integrated user interface. The faceplate includes physical elements such as buttons, knobs, or sliders that protrude from the display surface, merging the advantages of both touchscreens (versatility, information display) and physical controls (tactile feedback, input accuracy) into one unified interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical faceplate acts as an intermediary layer between the user and the touch-sensitive display. It provides physical tactile elements that mediate user interaction, allowing users to feel and manipulate physical controls while the underlying touchscreen provides additional functionality and information display capabilities.
2Loss of information
If a two-dimensional touch-sensitive display is used, then information display capability is improved, but driver distraction is increased
Solution Approach 1:
By merging physical controls with a digital display in a single integrated interface, the system allows drivers to interact with vehicle functions using tactile feedback that requires less cognitive attention, while the display provides comprehensive information. This reduces the need for drivers to visually search for control locations and understand abstract touchscreen interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical elements of the faceplate (buttons, knobs, sliders) provide mechanical feedback and vibration that can be felt by the user, creating tactile cues that guide interaction without requiring visual attention. This mechanical feedback system allows drivers to operate controls based on touch and feel rather than visual confirmation.
3Ease of operation
If physical buttons are used, then tactile feedback and user-friendliness are improved, but integration with digital content is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges physical buttons with a digital touchscreen display into a single integrated faceplate structure. The physical elements are positioned on or over the touchscreen, allowing them to work together as one unified interface rather than separate systems. This enables both tactile feedback from physical controls and digital content display simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated faceplate serves multiple functions: physical buttons provide tactile feedback for common controls, the touchscreen provides comprehensive information display and additional controls, and the combination allows the same interface to adapt to different user preferences and situations. The faceplate becomes a universal control system that incorporates both physical and digital interaction modes.
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
This combination enables more intuitive and varied user input methods, reducing driver distraction and improving interaction with vehicle systems by providing tactile feedback and visual cues, enhancing the overall user experience.
Implementation Method 1
an optic light guide material provided between the contact surface and the three-dimensional display surface
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~9
AI summary
The invention relates to a user interface (1) for a vehicle (2) adapted to present visible information (3a, 3b, 3b', 3b") and to capture user input (5); the user interface (1) comprises a two-dimensional touch sensitive display (7) for displaying information (3a) on a display portion (8) and for capturing touch user input (5a), and an optical faceplate (9) comprising a contact surface (10), a three-dimensional display surface (11) for displaying information (3b, 3b', 3b"), and an optic light guide material (12) provided between the contact surface (10) and the three-dimensional display surface (11); wherein the faceplate (9) is integrated into the display (7) so that an areal extension of the three-dimensional display surface (11) and/or an areal extension of the contact surface (10) is smaller than an areal extension of the display (7), and so that the contact surface (10) is arranged to receive light emitted from the display (7); wherein the user interface (1) is adapted to capture user interaction (5b) relative to the faceplate (9). The invention also relates to a vehicle (2) and a method of operating a user interface (1) for a vehicle (2).