Haptic simulation system and method for providing real-time haptic interaction in virtual simulation

• US 20050124412A1
• Filed: 06/28/2004
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Choi, Jin Sung, Kim, Ki Hong, Kim, Hyung Rae, Kim, Hong Kee, Son, Wookho
• Application Number:
  US10/876,870
• Publication Number:
  US 20050124412A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/006 based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO]

Abstract

Disclosed is a haptic simulation system and method for providing real-time haptic interaction in the haptic simulation system which allows a user (avatar) to feel an effect followed by a collision between the avatar and a surrounding virtual object in the form of a real-time haptic interaction through a haptic simulation device while the user performs a computer simulation. The simulation method includes the steps of: (a) operating an avatar within a virtual environment depending on a motion of the user in a haptic device while performing a haptic simulation; (b) perceiving a collision information of when the avatar of the user collides with an object of the virtual environment; (c) computing force/torque on the collision information on the basis of physical dynamics; (d) when the processing time of the step (c) exceeds a prescribed time, computing force/torque on the collision information using an interpolation method instead of the physical dynamics-based processing; and (e) transferring the force/torque values computed in the steps (c) and (d) to the user haptic device to provide the user with the haptic interaction.

Claims

1. A haptic simulation system comprising:

a haptic device for providing a user with a realistic haptic interaction;

a graphic display module for outputting and displaying an avatar depending on a motion of the user and a virtual environment while performing a simulation;

a collision-perceiving module for perceiving a real-time collision information between the avatar and a virtual object in a simulation environment;

a physical dynamics-based force/torque-computing module supplied with the collision information to compute force/torque on the basis of physical dynamics and transfer the computed force/torque to the haptic device; and

a dispersion-computing module being in charge of dispersion computing and synchronization among the graphic display module, the collision-perceiving module and the physical dynamics-based force/torque-computing module during a haptic circulation cycle.

2. The haptic simulation system of claim 1, further comprising:

a timer for checking a processing time of the physical dynamics-based force/torque-computing module after the collision information is transferred; and

an interpolation-based force/torque-computing module called instead of the physical dynamics-based force/torque-computing module when the physical dynamics-based processing time exceeds a prescribed time, for computing force/torque on the collision information on the basis of an interpolation method and transferring the computed information to the haptic device.

3. The haptic simulation system of claim 1, wherein the graphic display module and the physical dynamics-based force/torque-computing module are respectively executed in separate CPUs on a network or in different threads on a CPU.

4. A method for providing a real-time haptic interaction in a haptic simulation system, the method comprises the steps of:

(a) operating an avatar within a virtual environment depending on a motion of the user in a haptic device while performing a haptic simulation;

(b) perceiving a collision information of when the avatar of the user collides with an object of the virtual environment;

(c) computing force/torque on the collision information on the basis of physical dynamics;

(d) when the processing time of the step (c) exceeds a prescribed time, computing force/torque on the collision information using an interpolation method instead of the physical dynamics-based processing; and

(e) transferring the force/torque values computed in the steps (c) and (d) to the user haptic device to provide the user with the haptic interaction.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a first processing unit for performing the steps (a), (b) and (d) and a second processing unit for performing the step (c) are executed in separate CPUs on a network or in different threads on a CPU.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of processing dispersion computing and synchronization between the first processing unit and the second processing unit during a haptic circulation cycle.