System and method for ordering haptic effects

• US 20060129719A1
• Filed: 11/08/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Immersion Corporation
• Original Assignee: Immersion Corporation
• Inventors: Grant, Dany A., Cruz-Hernandez, Juan Manuel, Lacroix, Robert A., Da Costa, Henrique D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,333 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/58
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 6/00 Tactile signalling systems, e.g. personal calling systems

Abstract

A signal associated with multiple haptic effects is received, each haptic effect from the multiple haptic effects being associated with a time slot from multiple time slots. Each haptic effect from the multiple haptic effects is associated with an effect slot from multiple effect slots at least partially based on the time slot associated with that haptic effect. An output signal is sent for each effect slot from the multiple effect slots, when the associated haptic effect is scheduled for its time slot.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a first component configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects with a time slot from a plurality of time slots; and

a second component configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects with an effect slot from a plurality of effect slots, the second component being further configured to cause each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects to be output during the time slot associated with that haptic effect.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a client interface component configured to receive a signal; and

a driver in communication with the client interface component, the first component, and the second component, the driver being configured to coordinate communications between the client interface component, the first component, and the second component at least partially based on the signal received by the client interface component.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a client interface component configured to receive a signal; and

a driver in communication with the client interface component, the first component, and the second component, the driver being configured to coordinate communications between the client interface component, the first component, and the second component at least partially based on the signal received by the client interface component, the second component being configured to cause each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects to be output at least partially based on the signal received by the client interface device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a haptic device in communication with the second component, the haptic device being configured to output the plurality of basis haptic effects.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a resource manager in communication with the second component, the resource manager configured to manage resources available in the second component, the resources being associated with causing each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects to be output, the resources including the plurality of effect slots.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second component is configured to cause a ramp-up effect to be output before a second basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects is output.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second component is configured to cause a braking effect after a penultimate basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects is output.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a client interface component configured to receive a signal, the client interface component being further configured to control at least one of creating a basis haptic effect, deleting a basis haptic effect, starting a basis haptic effect, stopping a basis haptic effect, and modifying a basis haptic effect, at least partially based on the received signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a client interface component configured to receive a signal, the client interface component being further configured to control at least one of creating a basis haptic effect, deleting a basis haptic effect, starting a basis haptic effect, stopping a basis haptic effect, and modifying a basis haptic effect, at least partially based on the received signal;

a resource manager in communication with the second component, the resource manager being configured to manage resources available in the second component, the resources being associated with causing each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects to be output, the resources including the plurality of effect slots; and

a driver in communication with the client interface component, the first component, and the second component, the driver being configured to coordinate communications between the client interface component, the first component, and the second component at least partially based on the signal received by the client interface component, the second component being configured to cause each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects to be output at least partially based on the signal received by the client interface device.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a client interface component configured to receive a signal, the client interface component being further configured to control at least one of creating a basis haptic effect, deleting a basis haptic effect, starting a basis haptic effect, stopping a basis haptic effect, and modifying a basis haptic effect, at least partially based on the received signal, the client interface component being located on a first processor, the first component and the second component being located on a second processor different from the first processor, the second processor being in communication with the first processor.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a client interface component configured to receive a signal, the client interface component being further configured to control at least one of creating a basis haptic effect, deleting a basis haptic effect, starting a basis haptic effect, stopping a basis haptic effect, and modifying a basis haptic effect, at least partially based on the received signal, the client interface component and the first component being located on a first processor, the second component being located on a second processor different from the first processor, the second processor being in communication with the first processor.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second component is from a plurality of second components, each second component from the plurality of second components being configured to output signals uniquely related to one mode of operation from a plurality of modes of operation of the apparatus, a first mode of operation from the plurality of modes of operation being a haptic mode.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first component is configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects at least partially based on an event in an event-driven file.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first component is configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects at least partially based on an event in a MIDI file.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first component is configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects at least partially based on a cellular telephone ring-tone.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first component is configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects at least partially based on an event in an event-driven file, and wherein the second component is configured to output signals related to a first mode of operation from a plurality of modes of operation, the first mode of operation being a haptic mode, the apparatus further comprising:

a third component configured to provide a non-haptic output based on the event-driven file.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first component and the second component included in a cellular telephone.

18. A processor-readable medium comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a signal associated with a plurality of haptic effects, each haptic effect from the plurality of haptic effects being associated with a time slot from a plurality of time slots;

associate each haptic effect from the plurality of haptic effects with an effect slot from a plurality of effect slots at least partially based on the time slot associated with that haptic effect; and

send an output signal for each effect slot from the plurality of effect slots, when the associated haptic effect is scheduled for its time slot.

19. The processor-readable medium of claim 18, wherein each time slot from the plurality of time slots defines a time during which each associated haptic effect is output.

20. The processor-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

define a timeline for the plurality of time slots, the plurality of haptic effects being output at least partially based on the defined timeline.

21. The processor-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a plurality of client signals; and

send the output signal for each effect slot from the plurality of effect slots at least partially based on a client signal from the plurality of client signals.

23. The processor-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

output the plurality of haptic effects.

24. The processor-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

control at least one of an intensity, a periodicity, a ramp-up time, and a ramp-down time for each haptic effect from the plurality of haptic effects.

25. The processor-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

control at least one of creating a haptic effect, deleting a haptic effect, starting a haptic effect, stopping a haptic effect, and modifying a haptic effect for each haptic effect from the plurality of haptic effects.

26. An apparatus, comprising:

an interface component;

a driver configured to receive a plurality of signals via the interface component, the driver being configured to send a control signal based at least partially on a signal from the plurality of signals, the driver being configured to coordinate communications between a plurality of components; and

an output component configured to cause a plurality of basis haptic effects to be output at least partially based on the control signal, each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects being associated with a time slot from a plurality of time slots, the plurality of components including the output component.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, the plurality of components including:

a resource manager in communication with the output component and the driver, the resource manager being configured to manage resources available in the output component based on the control signal, the output component being further configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects with an effect slot from a plurality of effect slots at least partially based on the time slot associated with that haptic effect, the plurality of components including the resource manager.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, the plurality of components including:

a resource manager in communication with the output component and the driver, the resource manager being configured to manage resources available in the output component based on the control signal, the output component being further configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects with an effect slot from a plurality of effect slots at least partially based on the time slot associated with that haptic effect, the plurality of components including the resource manager; and

an ordering component in communication with the driver, the ordering component being configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects with a time slot from the plurality of time slots, the plurality of components including the ordering component.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, the plurality of components including:

a resource manager in communication with the output component and the driver, the resource manager being configured to manage resources available in the output component based on the control signal, the output component being further configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects with an effect slot from a plurality of effect slots at least partially based on the time slot associated with that haptic effect, the plurality of components including the resource manager; and

an ordering component in communication with the driver, the ordering component being configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects with a time slot from the plurality of time slots at least partially based on the control signal, the plurality of components including the ordering component.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, the plurality of components including:

an ordering component in communication with the driver, the ordering component being configured to associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects with a time slot from the plurality of time slots.

31. A processor-readable medium comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a signal from an interface component;

send a control signal at least partially based on the signal received from the interface component; and

output a plurality of signals, each signal from the plurality of signals being based at least partially on the control signal, each signal from the plurality of signals being configured to cause a basis haptic effect during an associated time slot.

32. The processor-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

produce at least one ordered haptic-effect signal by ordering the plurality of signals at least partially based on a plurality of time slots, the plurality of time slots including the time slot associated with the basis haptic effect, each time slot from the plurality of time slots being associated with a basis haptic effect from a plurality of basis haptic effects, the plurality of basis haptic effects including the basis haptic effect.

33. The processor-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

produce at least one ordered haptic-effect signal by ordering the plurality of signals at least partially based on a plurality of time slots, the plurality of time slots including the time slot associated with the basis haptic effect, each time slot from the plurality of time slots being associated with a basis haptic effect from a plurality of basis haptic effects, the plurality of basis haptic effects including the basis haptic effect; and

send the at least one ordered haptic-effect signal.

34. The processor-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

produce at least one ordered haptic-effect signal by ordering the plurality of signals at least partially based on a plurality of time slots, the plurality of time slots including the time slot associated with the basis haptic effect, each time slot from the plurality of time slots being associated with a basis haptic effect from a plurality of basis haptic effects, the plurality of basis haptic effects including the basis haptic effect;

send the at least one ordered haptic-effect signal; and

output a plurality of basis haptic effects, each basis haptic effect from the plurality of haptic effects being output in an order specified by the at least one ordered haptic-effect signals.

35. The processor-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

associate each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects being associated with an effect slot from a plurality of effect slots, the plurality of basis haptic effects including the basis haptic effect, each haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects being associated with a time slot from a plurality of time slots, each haptic effect being associated with an effect slot from the plurality of effect slots at least partially based on the time slot associated with that basis haptic effect.

36. An apparatus, comprising:

a first output component configured to cause a plurality of basis haptic effects to be output, each basis haptic effect from the plurality basis haptic effects being associated with a time slot, the first output component being configured to output each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects during the associated time slot; and

a second output component configured to cause a non-haptic output synchronously with output of the plurality of basis haptic effects.

37. A method, comprising:

outputting a first signal configured to cause a plurality of basis haptic effects to be output in a pre-determined order, each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects being associated with a time slot, the pre-determined order being at least partially based on the time slot associated with each basis haptic effect from the plurality of basis haptic effects; and

outputting a second signal configured to cause a non-haptic output synchronously with the output of plurality of basis haptic effects.