Support-Surface Apparatus to Impart Tactile Feedback
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A tactile-feedback imparting mousepad comprising:
- a support surface presented to support a mouse for mousing thereon by a user;
a tactile-feedback actuation mechanism operably associated with the support surface, the actuation mechanism including;
a pair of planes, which have conductive properties, held in a spaced-apart position relative to each other and with a defined gap therebetween, wherein at least one of the pair of planes is operatively associated with the support surface, the actuation mechanism being configured to permit at least one of the planes to move relative to the other effective to provide tactile feedback to the user via the support surface and through the mouse while the user is engaged with the mouse;
a return mechanism operably associated with at least one of the pair of planes, the return mechanism being configured to return the pair of planes, after a movement of the planes relative to each other, back to the spaced-apart position relative to each other and restore the defined gap therebetween.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein are techniques related to a support surface (e.g., a mousepad) for imparting a tactile feedback (e.g., haptics) to a human-machine interactive (HMI) device (e.g., a mouse) supported thereon. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A tactile-feedback imparting mousepad comprising:
-
a support surface presented to support a mouse for mousing thereon by a user; a tactile-feedback actuation mechanism operably associated with the support surface, the actuation mechanism including; a pair of planes, which have conductive properties, held in a spaced-apart position relative to each other and with a defined gap therebetween, wherein at least one of the pair of planes is operatively associated with the support surface, the actuation mechanism being configured to permit at least one of the planes to move relative to the other effective to provide tactile feedback to the user via the support surface and through the mouse while the user is engaged with the mouse; a return mechanism operably associated with at least one of the pair of planes, the return mechanism being configured to return the pair of planes, after a movement of the planes relative to each other, back to the spaced-apart position relative to each other and restore the defined gap therebetween. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. An apparatus comprising:
-
a support surface presented to support a device configured to provide human-machine interaction (HMI); a tactile-feedback actuation mechanism operably associated with the support surface, the actuation mechanism configured to provide tactile feedback to a user via the support surface while the user is engaged with the HMI device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method comprising:
-
receiving an audio signal from a host computing system; filtering the received signal to produce a filtered signal containing one or more limited bands of the received audio signal; sending the filtered signal to a tactile-feedback actuator of a tactile-feedback imparting support-surface apparatus so as to drive the actuator to impart a tactile feedback to a human-machine interaction (HMI) device supported on the support surface; in response to the filtered signal, imparting tactile feedback to the user through the HMI device and via the support surface.
-
Specification