A patent has been issued to Engel Austria GmbH, Schwertberg, for the operator interface of an injection molding machine (IMM). While a touch-sensitive display screen is a common solution, the patent states that current devices have drawbacks. Physical keys or buttons can be arranged outside the display screen area, but the patent asserts that this arrangement is not intuitive and forces the operator to hunt for the proper button. Adding buttons to the touch-sensitive display area introduces the risk of operator error, as space is limited.
The patent states the invention avoids these pitfalls and allows for fluent, error-free operation via a novel manner of arranging operating fields, navigation fields and passive fields.
When actuated by the operator, operating fields send a signal to elements of the IMM. Navigation fields that are actuated on the touch-sensitive display control navigation within the operating program — for example, calling up pages of the operating program. Passive fields display information about the IMM, but do not trigger an action if the operator touches them.
By arranging the fields so that operating fields and navigation fields are always separated from each other by passive fields, the patent states that unintentional activation of unwanted activities is avoided. The patent further states that these fields could be arranged in rows, columns or in a hybrid form.
Patent 10,093,056; issued Oct. 9
