COMMAND OF FORCE SENSATIONS IN A FORCE FEEDBACK SYSTEM USING FORCE EFFECT SUITES
First Claim
1. A method for commanding force effects using force suites, said force effects commanded by an application program running on a host computer, said host computer coupled to a force feedback interface device that outputs force sensations to a user, the method comprising:
- associating a force suite with a plurality of force effects and providing said association to a library available to said application program on said host computer;
providing a set of rules to said library, said rules determining how to apply said force effects in said suite based on a status of said application program; and
commanding at least one force effect in said suite and reporting said status of said application program to said library, said library applying said rules based on said reported status to cause a force sensation based on said commanded force effect to be output by said force feedback interface device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for commanding force effects using suites or categories to allow an application program higher level control over force sensations output by a force feedback interface device. An application program associates a force suite with one or more individual force effects and the suite association is provided to a library available to the application program on the host computer, such as an Application Programming Interface (API). A set of rules is also provided to the library, the rules determining how to apply the force effects in the suite based on a status of the application program. The application program commands at least one force effect in the suite and reports the status of the application program to the library, where the library applies the rules based on the reported status to cause a force sensation based on the commanded force effect to be output by a force feedback interface device coupled to the host computer.
22 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for commanding force effects using force suites, said force effects commanded by an application program running on a host computer, said host computer coupled to a force feedback interface device that outputs force sensations to a user, the method comprising:
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associating a force suite with a plurality of force effects and providing said association to a library available to said application program on said host computer;
providing a set of rules to said library, said rules determining how to apply said force effects in said suite based on a status of said application program; and
commanding at least one force effect in said suite and reporting said status of said application program to said library, said library applying said rules based on said reported status to cause a force sensation based on said commanded force effect to be output by said force feedback interface device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer readable medium including program instructions for implementing force effects using force suites, said force effects commanded by an application program running on a host computer, said host computer coupled to a force feedback interface device that outputs force sensations to a user, said program instructions performing steps comprising:
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receiving data from said application program running on said host computer, said data describing a force suite that is to be associated with a plurality of force effects;
receiving a command from said application program to output at least one of said force effects associated with said suite and receiving a status of said application program from said application program; and
causing a force sensation to be output by said force feedback interface device, said force sensation being based on said commanded force effect and based on said received status. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for implementing force effects using force suites, said apparatus comprising:
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means for associating a force suite with a plurality of force effects and designating a set of rules that determine how to output said force effects in said suite based on a status of said application program, said force effects to be output as force sensations by a force feedback device coupled to a host computer; and
means for receiving said association of said suite, said force effects, and said rules, said means for receiving able to output at least one force effect in said suite based on a command, said status of said application program, and said rules, to cause a force sensation to be output to said user by said force feedback interface device coupled to said host computer. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification