Haptic feedback device and haptic feedback method

• US 9,292,090 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2013
• Issued: 03/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hirose, Yoshifumi, Araki, Shoichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Prabodh M
• Application Number:
  US14/008,233
• Publication Number:
  US 20140062927A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,161 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 386/68, 398/186, 715/702, 715/769
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range

Abstract

A haptic feedback device which provides haptic feedback to a user touching a panel, the haptic feedback device including: the panel; a position obtaining unit which obtains a first touch position touched on the panel by the user and a second touch position touched on the panel by the user after the first touch position; a speed calculation unit which calculates a speed of a touch starting at the first touch position and ending at the second touch position; a modulation signal generation unit which generates a modulation signal having a frequency component at a frequency that increases with the speed; a carrier signal generation unit which generates a carrier signal for vibrating the panel; a modulation unit which modulates the carrier signal using the modulation signal; and an actuator which provides haptic feedback to the user by vibrating the panel in accordance with the modulated carrier signal.

Claims

1. A haptic feedback device which provides haptic feedback to a user touching a panel, the haptic feedback device comprising:

the panel;

an image display unit configured to display an image on the panel;

an image feature extraction unit configured to extract a feature of the image displayed on the panel, the feature of the image extracted being the spatial frequency of the image;

a position obtaining unit configured to obtain a first touch position which is a position of a touch made on the panel by the user and a second touch position which is a position of a touch made on the panel by the user after the touch made at the first touch position;

a speed calculation unit configured to calculate a speed of a touch starting at the first touch position and ending at the second touch position;

a modulation signal generation unit configured to generate a modulation signal having a frequency component at a frequency that increases with the speed and is dependent on the feature of the image;

a carrier frequency determination unit configured to determine a resonance frequency to be used for a frequency for the carrier signal from among a plurality of resonance frequencies of the panel, the determined resonance frequency increasing as the spatial frequency increases such that the higher the spatial frequency the higher the resonance frequency;

a carrier signal generation unit configured to generate a carrier signal for vibrating the panel having a frequency component at the determined resonance frequency determined by the carrier frequency determination unit;

a modulation unit configured to modulate the generated carrier signal using the modulation signal; and

an actuator which provides haptic feedback to the user by vibrating the panel in accordance with the modulated carrier signal.

2. The haptic feedback device according to claim 1,

wherein the image feature extraction unit is configured to extract, as the feature of the image, a spatial frequency of the image, and

the modulation signal generation unit is configured to generate the modulation signal having a frequency component at a frequency that increases with the speed and the spatial frequency.

3. The haptic feedback device according to claim 1,

wherein the image feature extraction unit is configured to extract the feature of the image from a region that is a portion of the image and includes the second touch position.

4. The haptic feedback device according to claim 3,

wherein the image feature extraction unit is configured to extract the feature of the image from the region having a size that increases with the speed.

5. The haptic feedback device according to claim 1,

wherein the image feature extraction unit is configured to extract the feature of the image each time the image displayed on the panel is updated, and

the modulation signal generation unit is configured to generate the modulation signal each time the feature of the image is extracted.

6. The haptic feedback device according to claim 1,

wherein the carrier signal generation unit is configured to generate the carrier signal having a frequency component at a resonance frequency of the panel.

7. The haptic feedback device according to claim 6,

wherein the carrier signal generation unit is configured to generate the carrier signal having a frequency component at a resonance frequency among a plurality of resonance frequencies of the panel that corresponds to the second touch position.

8. The haptic feedback device according to claim 1, further comprising

a hardness obtaining unit configured to obtain a value indicating a hardness of an object included in the image,

wherein the carrier signal generation unit is configured to generate the carrier signal having a frequency component at a frequency that increases with the value indicating the hardness.

9. The haptic feedback device according to claim 1, further comprising

a pressure measurement unit configured to measure a pressure of the touch made at the second touch position,

wherein the modulation signal generation unit is configured to generate the modulation signal having a frequency component at a frequency that increases with the measured pressure.

10. A haptic feedback method of providing haptic feedback to a user touching a panel, the haptic feedback method comprising:

displaying an image on the panel;

extracting a feature of the image displayed on the panel, the feature of the image extracted being the spatial frequency of the image;

obtaining a first touch position which is a position of a touch made on the panel by the user and a second touch position which is a position of a touch made on the panel by the user after the touch made at the first touch position;

calculating a speed of a touch starting at the first touch position and ending at the second touch position;

generating a modulation signal having a frequency component at a frequency that increases with the speed and is dependent on the feature of the image;

determining a resonance frequency to be used for a frequency for the carrier signal from among a plurality of resonance frequencies of the panel, the determined resonance frequency increasing as the spatial frequency increases such that the higher the spatial frequency the higher the resonance frequency;

generating a carrier signal for vibrating the panel having a frequency component at the determined resonance frequency determined;

modulating the generated carrier signal using the modulation signal; and

providing haptic feedback to the user by vibrating the panel in accordance with the modulated carrier signal.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon for causing a computer to execute the haptic feedback method according to claim 10.