Calibration of Haptic Devices

• US 20160259480A1
• Filed: 02/18/2016
• Published: 09/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Piche, Marc J., Chawda, Vinay, Wells, Nicole M., Wiederhold, Curtis P., Briant, Paul, Wedlick, Thomas, Augenbergs, Peteris K., McEuen, Scott J., Harley, Jonah A., Westerman, Wayne C., Bernstein, Jeffrey T., Degner, Brett W.
• Granted Patent: US 10,353,467 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/285 Generating tactile feedback signals via the game input device, e.g. force feedback
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1037 being specially adapted for converting control signals received from the game device into a haptic signal, e.g. using force feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 3/22 electrically or magnetically actuated
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 5/0028 Force sensors associated with force applying means G01L5/0052, G01L5/0057, G01L5/0061 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/015 Force feedback applied to a joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04142 the force sensing means being located peripherally, e.g. disposed at the corners or at the side of a touch sensing plate

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for providing haptic output and audio output on computing devices using the same haptic device and methods for calibrating the same. To produce the haptic and audio output, the computing device receives a profile of a desired output waveform that is to be provided by the haptic device. Using the desired output waveform, an input waveform is generated. Once the input waveform that will produce the desired output waveform is generated, the input waveform may be calibrated to account for various structural components of the haptic device and may also be combined with an audio waveform. The input waveform is then provided to the haptic device.

Claims

1. A method for calibrating a haptic device, the method comprising:

receiving one or more characteristics of an input waveform;

determining a current profile associated with the input waveform;

determining a scaling factor that is associated with the input waveform; and

combining the input waveform and the scaling factor to generate an output waveform that is substantially similar to the input waveform.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the scaling factor accounts for one or more of:

a structure of the haptic device;

a gap between a first component of the haptic device and an actuator of the haptic device; and

a stiffness of one or more of the components of the haptic device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising superimposing an audio waveform on the generated input waveform.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the audio waveform causes the haptic device to output an audio output.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the audio output is provided by the haptic device prior to the haptic output being provided by the haptic device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a current profile associated with the input waveform comprises determining an amount of force output by the haptic device, wherein the amount of force is modeled as a differential equation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the scaling factor is quadratically related to a stiffness of the one or more components of the haptic device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the scaling factor further comprises determining a stiffness of the input waveform.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics of the input waveform is a peak amplitude.

10. A haptic output device comprising:

a feedback surface;

an actuator;

one or more biasing supports; and

a controller operatively coupled to the actuator, wherein the controller is configured to;

obtain one or more characteristics of an input waveform;

determine a current profile associated with the input waveform, wherein the current profile includes a scaling factor associated with a stiffness of the one or more biasing supports; and

combining the input waveform with the scaling factor to generate an output waveform that is substantially similar to the input waveform.

11. The haptic output device of claim 10, wherein the output waveform causes the feedback surface to move in a manner consistent with the output waveform.

12. The haptic output device of claim 10, wherein the one or more biasing supports is a gel pad.

13. The haptic output device of claim 10, wherein the characteristics of the input waveform includes one or more of a desired amplitude and a desired duration.

14. The haptic output device of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to superimpose an audio waveform on top of the input waveform.

15. The haptic output device of claim 10, wherein the feedback surface is a touch surface of the haptic device.

16. The haptic output device of claim 10, wherein the scaling factor is quadratically related to the stiffness of the one or more biasing supports.

17. A method for providing tactile output and audio output on haptic device for an electronic device, the method comprising:

receiving a profile of a desired output waveform to be provided by a haptic device;

generating an input waveform based on the desired output waveform;

adding an audio waveform on the input waveform; and

providing the input waveform having the audio waveform to the haptic device to generate the tactile output and the audio output.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the audio output is provided before the tactile output.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the haptic device is a touch sensitive device.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising calibrating the haptic device based on a stiffness of one or more biasing supports.