Interactivity model for shared feedback on mobile devices

• US 8,493,354 B1
• Filed: 08/23/2012
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Immersion Corporation
• Original Assignee: Immersion Corporation
• Inventors: Birnbaum, David, Ullrich, Chris, Short, Jason, Devenish, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERMAN, STEPHEN G
• Application Number:
  US13/592,685
• Time in Patent Office: 334 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 178 1801- 1809, 178/18.11, 340/4.12, 340/407.1, 340/407.2, 463/30
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/005 Input arrangements through a video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A system that produces a dynamic haptic effect and generates a drive signal that includes a gesture signal and a real or virtual device sensor signal. The haptic effect is modified dynamically based on both the gesture signal and the real or virtual device sensor signal such as from an accelerometer or gyroscope, or by a signal created from processing data such as still images, video or sound. The haptic effect may optionally be modified dynamically by using the gesture signal and the real or virtual device sensor signal and a physical model, or may optionally be applied concurrently to multiple devices which are connected via a communication link. The haptic effect may optionally be encoded into a data file on a first device. The data file is then communicated to a second device and the haptic effect is read from the data file and applied to the second device.

Claims

1. A method of producing a haptic effect comprising:

enabling a communication link between a first device having a first haptic output device and a second device having a second haptic output device;

receiving a first signal from the first device;

communicating the first signal to the second device via the communication link;

generating a dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal; and

concurrently applying a first drive signal to the first haptic output device and a second drive signal to the second haptic output device according to the dynamic interaction parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second signal from the second device;

communicating the second signal to the first device via the communication link; and

wherein generating a dynamic interaction parameter comprises generating a dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal and the second signal.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating a dynamic interaction parameter comprises generating a dynamic interaction parameter from a combination of the first signal and the second signal.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising communicating the dynamic interaction parameter to the first device via the communication link.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the first signal to the second device via the communication link comprises communicating the dynamic interaction parameter to the second device via the communication link.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication link comprises a link selected from the list consisting of electronic, cellular, wireless, wi-fi, optical, infrared, acoustic, Bluetooth, USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt or Ethernet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal comprises a signal selected from the list consisting of vector, on-screen, gesture, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient or virtual.

8. A haptic effect enabled device comprising:

a haptic output device;

a communication module enabling a communication link with a remote device;

a drive module electronically coupled to the communication module for receiving a first signal from the remote device and generating a dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal; and

a drive circuit electronically coupled to the drive module and the haptic output device for applying a first drive signal to the haptic output device concurrently with a second drive signal being applied to the remote device according to the dynamic interaction parameter.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the drive module comprises a drive module for receiving a second signal from the haptic effect enabled device and generating a dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal and the second signal.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the drive module comprises a drive module for generating a dynamic interaction parameter from a combination of the first signal and the second signal.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the drive module comprises a drive module for communicating the dynamic interaction parameter to the remote device via the communication link.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein receiving a first signal from the remote device and generating a dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal comprises receiving a dynamic interaction parameter from the remote device.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the communication link comprises a link selected from the list consisting of electronic, cellular, wireless, wi-fi, optical, infrared, acoustic, Bluetooth, USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt or Ethernet.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the first signal comprises a signal selected from the list consisting of vector, on-screen, gesture, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient or virtual.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to produce a haptic effect, the instructions comprising:

enabling a communication link between a first device having a first haptic output device and a second device having a second haptic output device;

receiving a first signal from the first device;

communicating the first signal to the second device via the communication link;

generating a dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal; and

concurrently applying a first drive signal to the first haptic output device and a second drive signal to the second haptic output device according to the dynamic interaction parameter.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a second signal from the second device;

communicating the second signal to the first device via the communication link; and

wherein generating a dynamic interaction parameter comprises generating a dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal and the second signal.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein generating a dynamic interaction parameter comprises generating a dynamic interaction parameter from a combination of the first signal and the second signal.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising communicating the dynamic interaction parameter to the first device via the communication link.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein communicating the first signal to the second device via the communication link comprises communicating the dynamic interaction parameter to the second device via the communication link.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the communication link comprises a link selected from the list consisting of electronic, cellular, wireless, wi-fi, optical, infrared, acoustic, Bluetooth, USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt or Ethernet.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first signal comprises a signal selected from the list consisting of vector, on-screen, gesture, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient or virtual.

22. A method of producing a haptic effect comprising:

receiving a first signal from a first device;

generating a first dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal;

encoding the first dynamic interaction parameter in a data file on the first device;

communicating the data file to a second device having a first haptic output device;

reading the first dynamic interaction parameter from the data file on the second device; and

applying a first drive signal to the first haptic output device according to the first dynamic interaction parameter.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the first signal comprises a signal selected from the list consisting of vector, on-screen, gesture, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient or virtual.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a second signal from the second device;

generating a second dynamic interaction parameter using the second signal; and

encoding the second dynamic interaction parameter in the data file on the second device.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein generating a second dynamic interaction parameter comprises generating a second dynamic interaction parameter using the first signal and the second signal.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein generating a second dynamic interaction parameter comprises generating a second dynamic interaction parameter using the first dynamic interaction parameter and the second signal.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising communicating the data file on the second device to the first device.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

reading the second dynamic interaction parameter from the data file on the first device; and

applying a second drive signal to a second haptic output device on the first device according to the second dynamic interaction parameter.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein applying a second drive signal to a second haptic output device on the first device comprises applying a second drive signal to a second haptic output device on the first device according to the first dynamic interaction parameter and the second dynamic interaction parameter.

30. The method of claim 24, further comprising communicating the data file on the second device to a third device.