Haptic authoring
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for allowing a user to customize a feel of graphical objects in a graphical environment, said method comprising:
- accessing a database describing one or more of said graphical objects in said graphical environment, the database including geometric data associated with said graphical objects as well as tactile attributes associated with said graphical objects, said tactile attributes having parameters characterizing said tactile attributes; and
providing an interface enabling a user to both view said graphical objects and feel tactile sensations associated with said graphical objects, said interface also enabling a user to modify said parameters of said tactile attributes and then feel modified tactile sensations resulting from said modified parameters.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods are presented for authoring geometrical databases which incorporate touch or haptic feedback. In particular, a database of geometrical elements incorporates attributes necessary to support haptic interactions such as stiffness, hardness, friction, and so forth. Users may instantiate objects designed through CAD/CAM environments or attach haptic or touch attributes to subcomponents such as surfaces or solid sub-objects. The resulting haptic/visual databases or world-describing models can then be viewed and touched using a haptic browser or other appropriate user interface.
-
Citations
67 Claims
-
1. A method for allowing a user to customize a feel of graphical objects in a graphical environment, said method comprising:
-
accessing a database describing one or more of said graphical objects in said graphical environment, the database including geometric data associated with said graphical objects as well as tactile attributes associated with said graphical objects, said tactile attributes having parameters characterizing said tactile attributes; and
providing an interface enabling a user to both view said graphical objects and feel tactile sensations associated with said graphical objects, said interface also enabling a user to modify said parameters of said tactile attributes and then feel modified tactile sensations resulting from said modified parameters. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A method for allowing a user to customize tactile sensations associated with a graphical environment, comprising:
-
storing, in the memory of a computer system, a database including information which describes a graphical object viewable on a display device of said computer system, said graphical object also associated with at least one haptic attribute defining a tactile sensation for said graphical object;
providing a visual/haptic representation of said user in said graphical environment, said representation manipulable by said user;
using said representation of said user to;
a) display a user'"'"'s position relative to said graphical object, and b) allow said user to interact with said graphical object through touch; and
receiving input from said user to edit said at least one haptic attribute until a desired tactical interaction with said graphical object is achieved. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method of providing a tactile user interface, said method comprising:
-
accessing information over a network, said information describing a graphical environment, said information including geometric information as well as tactile information, said information describing static graphical objects and dynamic graphical objects;
accessing a human interface device that is capable of tracking a user'"'"'s manual motions and provide simulated tactile feedback, said accessing including receiving motion data from said human interface device;
displaying a plurality of said graphical objects, wherein a location, shape, and size of said graphical objects are based in part on said geometric information, wherein at least one of said displayed graphical objects is a dynamic graphical object, and displaying a graphical avatar, a location of said avatar based in part upon said motion data received from said human interface device;
determining an interaction of said graphical avatar with at least one of said graphical objects; and
sending touch-sensation data to said human interface device in response to said determined interaction, said touch-sensation data enabling said human interface device to provide a user with a touch sensation that corresponds with said determined interaction, wherein said touch-sensation data is updated and sent to said human interface device over time to correspond with changes in at least one of said dynamic graphical objects. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A host controlled software architecture implemented on a host computer, said architecture controlling a tactile interface device and enabling the execution of and output of multiple simultaneous tactile effects from said tactile interface device, said host controlled software architecture comprising:
-
an application layer running on said host computer, said application layer providing a software interface to a user and, based upon user interactions in said software interface, making calls requesting a plurality of parameterized high-level tactile effects to be executed simultaneously;
an API layer running on said host computer, said API layer interpreting said calls from said application layer and, based upon said calls, passing appropriate parameters for each of said tactile effects; and
a device driver layer running on said host computer, said device driver layer receiving said passed parameters and determining a force contribution for each of said tactile effects using said passed parameters, said device driver layer summing said force contributions of said simultaneous tactile effects, and outputting a superimposed set of forces to said tactile interface device over a communication bus. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
-
36. A method for allowing a user to customize tactile sensations associated with a graphical environment, said method comprising:
-
accessing a file that associates at least one of a plurality of graphical objects of said graphical environment with a particular tactile attribute;
displaying said at least one graphical object to a user on a graphical display while simultaneously presenting said particular tactile attribute to said user as a tactile sensation via a human interface device that provides tactile feedback;
allowing the user to interactively modify parameters of said tactile attribute and feel a resulting modified tactile sensation; and
allowing the user to save said modified tactile attribute in a file that associates said tactile attribute with at least one graphical object within said graphical environment. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
-
-
54. A method for allowing a user to customize tactile sensations associated with a graphical environment, said method comprising:
-
accessing a file that associates a plurality of graphical objects of said graphical environment with tactile attributes;
displaying said plurality of graphical objects to a user on a graphical display;
displaying an avatar to a user, the location of said avatar based upon the motion of a haptic human interface device being manipulated by said user;
allowing said user to select a particular one of said plurality of graphical objects when said avatar interacts with said particular graphical object;
presenting a tactile sensation to said user as a feel of said tactile attributes associated with said particular one of said graphical objects via said haptic human interface device;
allowing said user to interactively modify parameters of said tactile attributes and then feel a modified tactile sensation; and
allowing said user to save said modified tactile attributes in a file that associates said modified tactile attributes with said particular one of said graphical objects. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
-
Specification