Information processing system

• US 6,943,775 B1
• Filed: 07/21/1998
• Issued: 09/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Keyson, David V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lefkowitz, Sumati
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kumar, Srilakshmi K.
• Application Number:
  US09/119,887
• Time in Patent Office: 2,611 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 345/200.53
• US Class Current: 345/163
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/014 Force feedback applied to GUI
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03549 Trackballs G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop

Abstract

An information processing system comprises a plurality of information objects. The system has an input device through which a user can select a particular information object to be processed. An information object has an object representation to allow selection of the information object by the user. The user selects a particular information object on the basis of attributes of the corresponding object representation. In the processing system according to the invention, the object representation has a tactual attribute representative of that object representation and the input device is operative to provide the user with a tactile stimulation on the basis of this tactual attribute.

Claims

1. An information processing system for handling a plurality of information objects, an information object having an object representation including one or more object attributes, the system comprising

an input device allowing a user to select a particular information object through the object representation of the information object, and

processing means for processing the selected information object, characterised in that the object representation includes a tactual object attribute representative of that object representation, and that the input device is operative to provide the user with a tactile stimulation on the basis of the tactual object attribute.

2. An information processing system as claimed in claim 1, comprising a plurality of containers, a container having a container representation including one or more container attributes, wherein the input device is operative to provide the user with a tactile stimulation on the basis of a tactual container attribute, and wherein the processing means are operative to store the selected object in a particular container selected from the plurality of containers.

3. An information processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the particular container is selected by the processing means on the basis of a correspondence between the tactual object attribute of the selected information object and the tactual container attribute of the particular container.

4. An information processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the processing means are operative to generate a force which is applied to the object representation of the selected information object and directed towards the selected container, which force is to be provided to the user as a tactile stimulation through the input device.

5. An information processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the processing means are operative to disable the tactual attributes of the container representations of the non-selected containers so as to avoid a tactile stimulation to the user by those container representations.

6. An information processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the processing means are operative to assign a value to the tactual object attribute of the object representation, which value is the same as the value of the tactual container attribute of the container representation of the particular container.

7. An information processing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the processing means are operative to order objects in a container with respect to the tactual object attribute of the corresponding object representations.

8. A method for processing a particular information object in an information processing system comprising a plurality of information objects, an information object having an object representation including one or more object attributes, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting, by a user by means of an input device, the particular information object on the basis of at least one of the object attributes, and

processing the selected information object, characterised in that selecting the information object is carried out on the basis of a tactual attribute of the object representation provided to the user as a tactile stimulation by means of the input device.