Method and apparatus for providing a cursor control interface with force feedback
DCFirst Claim
1. A human interface device for enabling manual interactions with application software running on a host computer, said software providing images displayed on a computer display, said device comprising:
- (a) a user manipulatable physical object;
(b) a support mechanism which supports said user manipulatable physical object while allowing a plurality of degrees of freedom of said user manipulatable physical object with respect to a surface;
(c) a sensor apparatus coupled to at least one of said user manipulatable physical object and said support mechanism and that produces a locative signal responsive to and corresponding with the position of the user manipulatable physical object with respect to said surface at points in time during normal operation;
(d) a communication bus coupled to said host computer;
(e) a device microprocessor separate from said host computer and coupled to said host computer by said communication bus, said device microprocessor being coupled to said sensor apparatus, said device microprocessor running a program contained at least in part in a non-volatile memory coupled to said device microprocessor and separate from said host computer, said device microprocessor providing information for use by said host computer running an application program simultaneously with said microprocessor running said program, said information including a representation of said locative signal,wherein said application program of said host computer can provide images on a computer display, said images updated on said computer display in response to said locative signal, andwherein said host computer can provide host commands, said host commands being communicated to said device microprocessor by said communication bus, wherein said device microprocessor;
(i) monitors said communication bus for said host commands; and
(ii) decodes said host commands, whereinat least one of said host commands causes information to be reported from said device microprocessor to said host computer, andat least one of said host commands causes said device microprocessor to output control signals to cause a force to be imposed on said user manipulative physical object, said at least one host command and said force being correlated with at least one of said images developed by said host computer on said computer display; and
(f) a force generator controlled by said device microprocessor for providing a resistance force to motion of said user manipulatable physical object in response to at least one of said control signals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for use with a computer for providing commands to a computer through tracked manual gestures and for providing feedback to the user through forces applied to the interface. A user manipulatable object is coupled to a mechanical linkage which is, in turn, supportable on a fixed surface. The mechanical linkage or the user manipulatable object is tracked by sensors for sensing the location and/or orientation of the object. A multi-processor system architecture is disclosed wherein a host computer system is interfaced with a dedicated microprocessor which is responsive to the output of the sensors and provides the host computer with information derived from the sensors. The host computer has an application program which responds to the information provided via the microprocessor and which can provide force-feedback commands back to the microprocessor, which is felt by a user via the user manipulatable object.
318 Citations
85 Claims
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1. A human interface device for enabling manual interactions with application software running on a host computer, said software providing images displayed on a computer display, said device comprising:
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(a) a user manipulatable physical object; (b) a support mechanism which supports said user manipulatable physical object while allowing a plurality of degrees of freedom of said user manipulatable physical object with respect to a surface; (c) a sensor apparatus coupled to at least one of said user manipulatable physical object and said support mechanism and that produces a locative signal responsive to and corresponding with the position of the user manipulatable physical object with respect to said surface at points in time during normal operation; (d) a communication bus coupled to said host computer; (e) a device microprocessor separate from said host computer and coupled to said host computer by said communication bus, said device microprocessor being coupled to said sensor apparatus, said device microprocessor running a program contained at least in part in a non-volatile memory coupled to said device microprocessor and separate from said host computer, said device microprocessor providing information for use by said host computer running an application program simultaneously with said microprocessor running said program, said information including a representation of said locative signal, wherein said application program of said host computer can provide images on a computer display, said images updated on said computer display in response to said locative signal, and wherein said host computer can provide host commands, said host commands being communicated to said device microprocessor by said communication bus, wherein said device microprocessor; (i) monitors said communication bus for said host commands; and (ii) decodes said host commands, wherein at least one of said host commands causes information to be reported from said device microprocessor to said host computer, and at least one of said host commands causes said device microprocessor to output control signals to cause a force to be imposed on said user manipulative physical object, said at least one host command and said force being correlated with at least one of said images developed by said host computer on said computer display; and (f) a force generator controlled by said device microprocessor for providing a resistance force to motion of said user manipulatable physical object in response to at least one of said control signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 48, 49)
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42. A method for interfacing a user and a host computer including a computer display comprising:
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providing a user manipulatable physical object supported by a support apparatus which allows at least a plurality of degrees of freedom in the motion of said user manipulatable physical object; producing an object locative signal corresponding with the position of the user manipulatable physical object at points in time during its normal operation, said object locative signal providing information for use by a host computer including a computer display which can be used by an application program running on said host computer to control images on said computer display; providing a force feedback command from said host computer implementing a display process for displaying images on said computer display, said force feedback command being correlated to at least one of said images on said computer display; parsing said force feedback command on a processor under at least partial control of a program stored in non-volatile memory, said processor and said non-volatile memory being located at said support apparatus and being entirely separate from said host computer, to develop force signal for controlling a force generator to cause a force to be exerted on said user manipulatable physical object that is correlated to an image on said computer display, said program in said non-volatile memory being executed simultaneously with said display process on said host computer. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A device for use in conjunction with a host computer including a computer display, said device comprising:
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a user manipulatable physical object; a support mechanism which supports said user manipulatable physical object while allowing a plurality of degrees of freedom in the motion of said user manipulatable physical object; a sensor apparatus coupled to at least one of said user manipulatable physical object and said support mechanism and that produces a locative signal responsive to and corresponding with the position of the user manipulatable physical object at points in time during normal operation; a device microprocessor coupled to said sensor apparatus such that said device microprocessor can read said locative signal from said sensor apparatus, said device microprocessor running a program contained, at least in part, in a non-volatile memory coupled to said device microprocessor, said device microprocessor providing information for use by a host computer running an application program which can provide images on a computer display, said application program providing force commands which can be communicated to said device microprocessor for parsing into force signals, wherein said program and said application program are running simultaneously; a force generator controlled by said device microprocessor for providing force feedback to said user manipulatable physical object in response to said force signals; and a memory device accessible to said device microprocessor; wherein said device microprocessor stores an output array of multiple locative values in said memory device while said device microprocessor waits to send a representation of said output array to said host computer. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A multi-degree-of-freedom force feedback cursor control interface for use with a host computer running an application program which displays images on a display apparatus, said cursor control enabling a user to control the position of a cursor displayed by said host computer and enabling said host computer to convey force feedback to a user in accordance with said position of said cursor, said force feedback cursor control:
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a user manipulatable physical object; a support mechanism which supports said user manipulatable physical object while allowing a plurality of degrees of freedom in the motion of said user manipulatable object; a sensor coupled to said user manipulatable physical object to provide a locative signal responsive to and corresponding with a user'"'"'s manipulation of said user manipulatable object; a force generator coupled to said user manipulatable physical object providing resistance to motion of said user manipulatable physical object in at least one of said degrees of freedom, said resistance corresponding to host commands from a host computer running an application program which displays images on an associated display apparatus; a microprocessor separate from said host computer, coupled to said sensor, and interacting with said force generator, said microprocessor supervising communication between said cursor control and said host computer by monitoring and decoding said host commands received from said host computer and by sending data to said host computer, where at least one of said host commands sent by said host computer to said microprocessor is a force feedback command causing the setting of force resistance on said user manipulatable object, and wherein at least part of said data sent to said host computer is representative of the motion of said user manipulatable object, wherein said supervising and setting of force resistance occur simultaneously with said display of images on said display apparatus by said host computer, thereby allowing resistance to be output from said force generator in response to and in conjunction with cursor position on said display apparatus; memory locally coupled to said microprocessor and separate from memory of said host computer for locally storing a representation of said locative signal; and a communication bus for coupling said microprocessor to said host computer, said bus being adapted to convey said force feedback commands from said host computer to said microprocessor and adapted to convey said data from said microprocessor to said host computer; whereby said display apparatus of said host computer can display a cursor positioned in accordance with a position of said user manipulatable object such that force feedback commands are sent from said host computer to said cursor control in accordance with displayed cursor interaction with other display images on said display apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
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76. A multi-degree-of-freedom cursor control interface for use in conjunction with a host computer running an application program which displays images on a display apparatus, said cursor control interface enabling a user to control the position of a graphical image displayed by said host computer on said display apparatus and enabling said host computer to convey force feedback to a user in accordance with graphical image manipulation, said cursor control interface comprising:
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a user manipulatable physical object grasped by a user; a support mechanism coupled to said user manipulatable physical object, said support mechanism allowing a plurality of degrees of freedom in the motion of said user manipulatable physical object; a force generator coupled to said user manipulatable physical object and providing force resistance to motion of said user manipulatable physical object in a plurality of said degrees of freedom in response to commands from said host computer and in coordination with said displayed graphical image; a device microprocessor separate from said host computer and interacting with said force generator, said device microprocessor supervising communication between said cursor control interface and said host computer by monitoring and decoding said commands received from said host computer and by sending data to said host computer, wherein at least one of said commands sent from said host computer to said device microprocessor is a force feedback command causing the setting of force resistance on said user manipulatable object, and wherein at least part of said data sent to said host computer is representative of motion of said user manipulatable physical object, said decoding, sending, and setting occurring simultaneously with host computer control of said, graphical image, thereby allowing resistance to be output from said force generator in response to and in conjunction with graphical image manipulation on said display apparatus; a communication bus connecting said device microprocessor and said host computer, said bus used in conveying said force feedback commands from said host computer to said device microprocessor; a sensor apparatus coupled to said device microprocessor, said sensor apparatus providing said device microprocessor with a locative signal responsive to and corresponding with manipulation of said user manipulatable object; and local memory coupled to said device microprocessor and separate from host computer memory, said local memory locally storing a representation of said locative signal; whereby said display apparatus coupled to said host computer displays a graphical image controlled by said host computer in accordance with said motion of said user manipulatable object, and wherein force feedback commands are sent from said host computer to said cursor control interface in accordance with said displayed graphical image. - View Dependent Claims (77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85)
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Specification