Automatic haptic effect adjustment system

• US 9,202,352 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2013
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Immersion Corporation
• Original Assignee: Immersion Corporation
• Inventors: Levesque, Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Hoi
• Application Number:
  US13/792,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20140253303A1
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/407.2, 340/439, 340/669, 340/407.1, 600/558, 600/300, 600/301, 600/545, 600/544, 600/28, 600/595, 600/345, 600/27
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/011 Emotion or mood input determined on the basis of sensed human body parameters such as pulse, heart rate or beat, temperature of skin, facial expressions, iris, voice pitch, brain activity patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 6/00 Tactile signalling systems, e.g. personal calling systems

Abstract

A system is provided that automatically adjusts a haptic effect. The system generates a haptic effect based on one or more haptic parameters. The system measures an affective state of a user that experiences the haptic effect. The system adjusts at least one haptic parameter of the one or more haptic parameters based on the measured affective state. The system generates a new haptic effect based on the one or more haptic parameters, where the at least one haptic effect parameter causes the new haptic effect to be different from the haptic effect.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to automatically adjust a haptic effect, the automatic adjusting comprising:

generating a haptic effect based on one or more haptic parameters;

measuring an affective state of a user that experiences the haptic effect;

measuring a context of the user that experiences the haptic effect;

adjusting at least one haptic parameter of the one or more haptic parameters based on the measured affective state of the user and the measured context of the user; and

generating a new haptic effect based on the one or more haptic parameters, wherein the at least one adjusted haptic parameter causes the new haptic effect to be different from the haptic effect.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the measuring the affective state further comprises:

measuring an input produced by an affective sensor configured to detect affective data, wherein the affective data comprises one or more characteristics of the user; and

analyzing the input to determine the affective state of the user.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the affective state comprises a valence value and an arousal value.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the adjusting the at least one haptic parameter further comprises:

identifying a difference between the measured affective state and a pre-defined affective state; and

adjusting at least one value of the at least one haptic parameter to reduce the identified difference.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4,

wherein the new haptic effect produces a new affective state of the user;

and

wherein the new affective state is more similar to the pre-defined affective state.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more haptic parameters comprises at least one of:

an amplitude haptic parameter, a frequency haptic parameter, a duration haptic parameter, an envelope haptic parameter, a density haptic parameter, a magnitude haptic parameter, a strength haptic parameter, or an actuator haptic parameter.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1,

wherein the adjusting the at least one haptic parameter is performed at a server;

wherein the generating the haptic effect, the measuring the affective state, and the generating the new haptic effect are performed at a device;

wherein the device sends the measured affective state to the server; and

wherein the server sends the one or more haptic parameters to the device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the server automatically adjusts a haptic effect for a plurality of devices.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the generating the haptic effect, the measuring the affective state, the adjusting the at least one haptic parameter, and the generating the new haptic effect are performed at a device.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the measuring the affective state, the adjusting the at least one haptic parameter, and the generating the new haptic effect are performed continuously until the new haptic effect produces a new affective state of the user that is similar to a pre-defined affective state.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the measuring the affective state, the adjusting the at least one haptic parameter, and the generating the new haptic effect are performed in real-time.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9,

wherein the measuring the affective state further comprises measuring an input produced by a high-fidelity affective sensor that detects one or more characteristics of the user.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12,

wherein the generating the haptic effect further comprises sending a generated haptic signal to a high-fidelity actuator to generate the haptic effect.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the generating the haptic effect further comprises:

generating a haptic signal based on the one or more haptic parameters; and

sending the haptic signal to an actuator to generate the haptic effect.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the generating the new haptic effect further comprises:

generating a new haptic signal based on the one or more haptic parameters comprising the at least one adjusted haptic parameter; and

sending the new haptic signal to the actuator to generate the new haptic effect.

16. A computer-implemented method for automatically adjusting a haptic effect, the computer-implemented method comprising:

generating a haptic effect based on one or more haptic parameters;

measuring an affective state of a user that experiences the haptic effect;

measuring a context of the user that experiences the haptic effect;

adjusting at least one haptic parameter of the one or more haptic parameters based on the measured affective state of the user and the measured context of the user; and

generating a new haptic effect based on the one or more haptic parameters, wherein the at least one adjusted haptic parameter causes the new haptic effect to be different from the haptic effect.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the measuring the affective state further comprises:

measuring an input produced by an affective sensor configured to detect affective data, wherein the affective data comprises one or more characteristics of the user; and

analyzing the input to determine the affective state of the user.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the affective state comprises a valence value and an arousal value.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the adjusting the at least one haptic parameter further comprises:

identifying a difference between the measured affective state and a pre-defined affective state; and

adjusting a value of the at least one haptic parameter based on the identified difference.

20. A system for automatically adjusting a haptic effect, the system comprising:

a memory configured to store an automatic haptic effect adjustment module; and

a processor configured to execute the automatic haptic effect adjustment module stored on the memory;

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is configured to generate a haptic effect based on one or more haptic parameters;

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is further configured to measure an affective state of a user that experiences the haptic effect;

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is further configured to measure a context of the user that experiences the haptic effect;

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is further configured to adjust at least one haptic parameter of the one or more haptic parameters based on the measured affective state of the user and based on the measured context of the user;

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is further configured to generate a new haptic effect based on the one or more haptic parameters; and

wherein the at least one adjusted haptic parameter causes the new haptic effect to be different from the haptic effect.

21. The system of claim 20,

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is further configured to measure an input produced by an affective sensor configured to detect affective data, wherein the affective data comprises one or more characteristics of the user;

and

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is further configured to analyze the input to determine the affective state of the user.

22. The system of claim 20,

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is further configured to identify a difference between the measured affective state and a pre-defined affective state;

and

wherein the automatic haptic effect adjustment module is further configured to adjust a value of the at least one haptic parameter based on the identified difference.