Haptic peripheral having a deformable substrate configured for amplified deformation
First Claim
1. A haptic peripheral comprising:
- a housing;
a substrate comprising a user contact portion, a pair of arms, and a pair of hinges, wherein a first arm of the pair of arms extends from a first side of the user contact portion to a first hinge of the pair of hinges and a second arm of the pair of arms extends from a second side of the user contact portion to a second hinge of the pair of hinges;
a coupling mechanism configured to couple the substrate to the housing via the pair of hinges; and
a smart material actuator coupled to a surface of the substrate and configured to undergo a deformation in response to a control signal,wherein the deformation of the smart material actuator causes a change in a height between the user contact portion of the substrate and the housing and a change in a distance between the pair of hinges.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A haptic peripheral includes a housing, a deformable substrate coupled to the housing to be moveable thereto, and a smart material actuator coupled to a surface of the deformable substrate. The smart material actuator produces a force that deforms the deformable substrate relative to the housing in response to the control signal from a processor to thereby provide a haptic effect to a user of the haptic peripheral. The deformable substrate includes at least one user contact portion configured to contact the user and two opposing hinges. The deformable substrate also includes at least two stiff arms, each stiff arm extending between the user contact portion and one of the two opposing hinges. The stiff arms are relatively stiffer than the user contact portion and the hinges such that the deformable substrate is configured to increase the deformation of the deformable substrate relative to the housing.
41 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A haptic peripheral comprising:
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a housing; a substrate comprising a user contact portion, a pair of arms, and a pair of hinges, wherein a first arm of the pair of arms extends from a first side of the user contact portion to a first hinge of the pair of hinges and a second arm of the pair of arms extends from a second side of the user contact portion to a second hinge of the pair of hinges; a coupling mechanism configured to couple the substrate to the housing via the pair of hinges; and a smart material actuator coupled to a surface of the substrate and configured to undergo a deformation in response to a control signal, wherein the deformation of the smart material actuator causes a change in a height between the user contact portion of the substrate and the housing and a change in a distance between the pair of hinges. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A gaming system comprising:
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a host computer; a processor; and a haptic peripheral including; a housing, a substrate comprising a user contact portion, a pair of arms, and a pair of hinges, wherein a first arm of the pair of arms extends from a first side of the user contact portion to a first hinge of the pair of hinges and a second arm of the pair of arms extends from a second side of the user contact portion to a second hinge of the pair of hinges, a coupling mechanism configured to couple the substrate to the housing via the pair of hinges, and a smart material actuator coupled to a surface of the substrate and configured to undergo a deformation in response to a control signal, wherein the deformation of the smart material actuator causes a change in a height between the user contact portion of the substrate and the housing and a change in a distance between the pair of hinges. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method of providing deformation in a haptic peripheral, comprising:
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receiving a control signal at a smart material actuator coupled to a surface of a substrate, the substrate comprising a user contact portion, a pair of arms, and a pair of hinges, wherein a first arm of the pair of arms extends from a first side of the user contact portion to a first hinge of the pair of hinges and a second arm of the pair of arms extends from a second side of the user contact portion to a second hinge of the pair of hinges, and wherein the substrate is coupled to a housing by a coupling mechanism via the pair of hinges; and deforming the smart material actuator to cause a change in a height between the user contact portion of the substrate and the housing and a change in distance between the pair of hinges. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification