Electronic driver for an electromagnetic resonant transducer
First Claim
1. A tactile alerting system, comprising:
- a tactile alerting device comprising a non-linear, hardening spring resonant armature system including a plurality of planar non-linear spring members which are coupled to a magnetic motional mass suspended thereby within an electromagnetic driver for generating an electromagnetic field;
a swept frequency signal generator comprisinga ramp generator for generating a control voltage which periodically varies in a sequence of steps of increasing amplitude over a predetermined period of time, anda voltage controlled oscillator, coupled to said ramp generator and responsive to the control voltage generated, for generating a swept frequency output signal; and
a tactile alerting device driver, having an input coupled to said swept frequency signal generator, and an output coupled to said electromagnetic driver for generating a swept frequency electromagnetic field in response to the swept frequency output signal,whereby movement of said magnetic motional mass generated by the swept frequency electromagnetic field is transformed through said plurality of planar non-linear spring members and said electromagnetic driver into tactile energy thereby generating a tactile alert.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic driver for use with linear and non-linear transducers includes a voltage controlled oscillator (1630) to generate an output signal (1603) in response to a frequency control signal (1625); a transducer driver (1604), coupled to the voltage controlled oscillator (1630) and to the transducer (600), includes an electromagnetic driver (604) to generate an electromagnetic field in response to the output signal (1603), and a power control circuit (2104, 2106) to suspend generation of the electromagnetic field for a portion of the output signal, the electromagnetic field generating movement of a magnetic motional mass (636) which is transformed into tactile energy; and a tactile energy monitor (1606) coupled to the electromagnetic driver (604) for monitoring a level of tactile energy generated by the movement of the magnetic motional mass (636), and in response thereto generates the frequency control signal (1625) to maximize the level of tactile energy generated.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A tactile alerting system, comprising:
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a tactile alerting device comprising a non-linear, hardening spring resonant armature system including a plurality of planar non-linear spring members which are coupled to a magnetic motional mass suspended thereby within an electromagnetic driver for generating an electromagnetic field; a swept frequency signal generator comprising a ramp generator for generating a control voltage which periodically varies in a sequence of steps of increasing amplitude over a predetermined period of time, and a voltage controlled oscillator, coupled to said ramp generator and responsive to the control voltage generated, for generating a swept frequency output signal; and a tactile alerting device driver, having an input coupled to said swept frequency signal generator, and an output coupled to said electromagnetic driver for generating a swept frequency electromagnetic field in response to the swept frequency output signal, whereby movement of said magnetic motional mass generated by the swept frequency electromagnetic field is transformed through said plurality of planar non-linear spring members and said electromagnetic driver into tactile energy thereby generating a tactile alert. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A tactile alerting system for maximizing tactile energy delivered therefrom, said tactile alerting system comprising:
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a tactile alerting device comprising a non-linear, hardening spring resonant armature system including a plurality of planar non-linear spring members which are coupled to a magnetic motional mass suspended thereby within an electromagnetic driver for generating an electromagnetic field; a variable frequency oscillator, for generating an output signal, said variable frequency oscillator having an input responsive to a frequency control signal for controlling a frequency of the output signal; a tactile alerting device driver, having an input coupled to said variable frequency oscillator, and an output coupled to said electromagnetic driver for generating an electromagnetic field in response to the frequency of the output signal generated, said tactile alerting device driver further comprising power control means which suspends generation of the electromagnetic field by said electromagnetic driver during a portion of a first predetermined time interval and during a portion of a second predetermined time interval, whereby a movement of said magnetic motional mass is generated by the electromagnetic field and is transformed through said plurality of planar non-linear spring members and said electromagnetic driver into tactile energy thereby generating a tactile alert; and a tactile energy monitor, coupled to said electromagnetic driver, for monitoring a level of tactile energy generated by the movement of said magnetic motional mass during the portion of the first predetermined time interval and during the portion of the second predetermined time interval, and for generating in response thereto the frequency control signal to maximize the tactile energy delivered therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification