Tactile processing device

• US 8,570,291 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2010
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PANASONIC AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS CO., LTD. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Motomura, Hideto, Suzuki, Tetsu, Okimoto, Yoshiyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): HARRIS, DOROTHY H
• Application Number:
  US13/062,567
• Publication Number:
  US 20110157088A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,257 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/173
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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

Abstract

The present invention provides a technique for sensing and reproducing various feels, which a person gets discretely over a period of time, by time sequential sensing.

A tactile processor includes: a movement measuring section for determining a status of contact between a person and an object; a physical measuring section for measuring a physical property value of the object; and a physical-psychological transformation section for generating a tactile feature quantity based on the physical property value that has been measured by the physical measuring section and on the weight of the physical property of an arbitrary object. The weight is variable according a status of contact between the person and the arbitrary object and is calculated based on not only a physical property value representing the status of contact between the person and the arbitrary object but also a tactile feature quantity representing a feel that the person gets when touching the arbitrary object.

Claims

1. A tactile processor comprising:

a movement measuring section for determining a status of contact between a person and an object as represented by a feature quantity value;

a physical measuring section for measuring a physical property value of the object; and

a physical-psychological transformation section for generating a tactile feature quantity based on the physical property value measured by the physical measuring section and based on a weight of the physical property of the object,

wherein the weight is selected, based on the status of contact, from a group of weights, and each weight included in the group of weights is associated with a physical property value and feature quantity value.

2. The tactile processor of claim 1, further comprising an output section for outputting the tactile feature quantity that has been generated by the physical-psychological transformation section as the quantity of a feel that the person gets when touching the arbitrary object.

3. The tactile processor of claim 1, wherein the physical measuring section is able to measure physical property values representing multiple different types of physical properties of the object, and

wherein the physical measuring section changes the types of physical properties to measure according to the status of contact between the person and the object.

4. The tactile processor of claim 1, wherein the movement measuring section obtains a feature quantity representing a hand movement of the person who is feeling the object, and

wherein the feature quantity representing the hand movement includes at least one of the coordinates of a position on the hand, the coordinates of a point of contact between the hand and the object, the magnitudes of shift in these coordinates, the movement velocity of the hand, and the movement acceleration of the hand.

5. The tactile processor of claim 1, wherein the physical measuring section measures, as the physical property value of the object, at least one of the shape of the object and a stress applied to the object.

6. The tactile processor of claim 1, wherein the tactile feature quantity includes at least one of an uneven feel, a hard/soft feel, a frictional feel and a sticky feel that are defined as factors to be extracted from the sensory response of a subject under test.

7. The tactile processor of claim 4, wherein the physical-psychological transformation section collects in advance information about a correlation between a physical property value of the object and a feature quantity representing the feel that the person gets when touching the object, and

wherein the information has been collected in advance as either a table that correlates a feature quantity representing the hand movement, a physical property value of the object, and the tactile feature quantity with each other or a function that receives the feature quantity representing the hand movement and a physical property value of an object of learning and outputs the tactile feature quantity.

8. The tactile processor of claim 2, further comprising a tactile display section, which receives the tactile feature quantity from the output section and produces force based on the tactile feature quantity received, thereby making a feeler who touches the display get a feel,

wherein the tactile display section includes:

a psychological-physical transformation section for transforming the tactile feature quantity, which has been received from a recording section, into a control signal following a predefined transformation rule;

a drive section for applying the force to the feeler'"'"'s hand in accordance with the control signal; and

a hand movement measuring section for measuring a feature quantity representing the hand movement of the feeler who touches the tactile display section,

wherein the psychological-physical transformation section receives the tactile feature quantity, which has been stored on the recording section and which is determined by the feature quantity representing the feeler'"'"'s hand movement.

12. The tactile processor of claim 1, wherein the status of contact includes at least one of trace movement, pressing movement, and grabbing movement.

9. A tactile processor comprising:

a tactile display section for making a feeler who touches the display get a feel by producing force;

a physical measuring section for measuring a physical property value of a given object under test; and

a physical-psychological transformation section for transforming the physical property value of the object under test measured into a tactile feature quantity by reference to information that has been collected in advance to correlate with each other physical measured values of an object of learning and a feature quantity representing a feel that a person has gotten by touching the object of learning,

wherein the object under test is represented by a feature quantity value, and

a tactile feature quantity is generated based on a weight of the physical property of the object under test and the weight is selected based on the status of contact, from a group of weights and each weight included in the group of weights is associated with a physical property value and feature quantity value,

wherein the tactile display section includes;

a psychological-physical transformation section for transforming the tactile feature quantity into a control signal following a predefined transformation rule;

a drive section for applying the force to the feeler'"'"'s hand in accordance with the control signal; and

a hand movement measuring section for measuring a feature quantity representing the hand movement of the feeler who touches the tactile display section, and

wherein the physical measuring section measures the physical property value of the object under test by the measured feature quantity representing the feeler'"'"'s hand movement.

10. A tactile processor comprising:

a physical measuring section for measuring a physical property value of an object under test using a physical sensor;

a physical sensor movement instructing section for instructing how to move the physical sensor in measuring the physical property value of the object under test;

a physical-psychological transformation section for transforming the physical property value measured into a tactile feature quantity by reference to information that has been collected in advance to correlate with each other a physical property value of an object of learning, a feature quantity representing a hand movement of a subject under test who has touched the object of learning, and a feature quantity representing a feel that the subject has gotten by touching the object so that types and weights of the physical property value to refer to are changed according to the feature quantity representing the hand movement, wherein the weights are selected, based on the status of contact, from a group of weights, and each weight included in the group of weights is associated with a physical property value and feature quantity value; and

an output section for outputting the tactile feature quantity determined as the quantity of a feel that the subject gets when touching the object under test.

11. The tactile processor of claim 10, further comprising a tactile display section, which receives the tactile feature quantity from the output section and produces force based on the tactile feature quantity received, thereby making a feeler who touches the display get a feel,

wherein the tactile display section includes:

a psychological-physical transformation section for transforming the tactile feature quantity, which has been received from a recording section, into a control signal following a predefined transformation rule;

an actuator section for applying the force to the feeler'"'"'s hand in accordance with the control signal and making the feeler get a feel; and

a hand movement measuring section for measuring a feature quantity representing the hand movement of the feeler who has touched the actuator section,

wherein the psychological-physical transformation section receives the tactile feature quantity, which has been stored on the recording section and which is determined by the feature quantity representing the feeler'"'"'s hand movement.