Haptic effects with proximity sensing

• US 8,898,564 B2
• Filed: 02/07/2011
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Immersion Corporation
• Original Assignee: Immersion Corporation
• Inventors: Grant, Danny A., Gregorio, Pedro, Lacroix, Robert Andre
• Primary Examiner(s): ABDUL-ALI, OMAR R
• Application Number:
  US13/022,185
• Publication Number:
  US 20110138277A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,387 Days
• Field of Search: 715/702
• US Class Current: 715/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method of generating haptic effects on a device includes detecting the presence of an object near an input area of the device and generating a haptic effect on the device in response to the presence detection.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to generate haptic effects on a device, the generating comprising:

detecting a position of an object relative to a touchscreen of the device, wherein the detecting occurs while the object is hovering over the touchscreen, and the device comprises a plurality of selectable functionality displayed on the touchscreen;

based on the detected position, including the proximity of the hovering to one functionality of the plurality of selectable functionality, determining a functionality of the device; and

generating a first haptic effect on the device while the object is hovering based at least on the determined functionality.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a user interface on the touchscreen that displays a plurality of user interface elements providing the selectable functionality for the device.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the user interface elements comprise at least one of a virtual button, a virtual jog dial or a series of menus.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first haptic effect is a vibrotactile haptic effect and is generated on a housing of the device.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting an operating condition of the device;

generating a second haptic effect based at least on the detected operating condition.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the detected operating condition comprises a proximity to a user of the device.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the detected operating condition comprises the device is near a face of the user and wherein the second haptic effect comprises a reduced magnitude haptic effect.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the detected position is based on a signal from one or more proximity sensors.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first haptic effect is generated without the object contacting the touchscreen.

10. A method of generating haptic effects on a device, the method comprising:

detecting a position of an object relative to a touchscreen of the device, wherein the detecting occurs while the object is not contacting the touchscreen, and the device comprises a plurality of selectable functionality displayed on the touchscreen;

based on the detected position, including the proximity of the object to one functionality of the plurality of selectable functionality, determining a functionality of the device; and

generating a first haptic effect on the device while the object is not contacting the touchscreen based at least on the determined functionality.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

generating a user interface on the touchscreen that displays a plurality of user interface elements providing the selectable functionality for the device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user interface elements comprise at least one of a virtual button, a virtual jog dial or a series of menus.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first haptic effect is a vibrotactile haptic effect and is generated on a housing of the device.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

detecting an operating condition of the device;

generating a second haptic effect based at least on the detected operating condition.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the detected operating condition comprises a proximity to a user of the device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the detected operating condition comprises the device is near a face of the user and wherein the second haptic effect comprises a reduced magnitude haptic effect.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the detected position is based on a signal from one or more proximity sensors.

18. A haptically enabled device comprising:

a proximity sensor;

a processor coupled to the proximity sensor;

a haptic feedback system coupled to the processor; and

a touchscreen coupled to the processor and adapted to display a plurality of selectable functionality;

wherein the processor is adapted to;

detect a position of an object relative to the touchscreen based on a signal received from the proximity sensor, wherein the detecting occurs while the object is hovering over the touchscreen;

based on the detected position, including the proximity of the hovering to one functionality of the plurality of selectable functionality, determine a functionality of the device; and

generate a first haptic effect on the device while the object is hovering based at least on the determined functionality.

19. The device of claim 18, the processor further adapted to:

generate a user interface on the touchscreen that displays a plurality of user interface elements providing the selectable functionality for the device.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the user interface elements comprise at least one of a virtual button, a virtual jog dial or a series of menus.

21. The device of claim 18, further comprising an actuator and coupled to the processor and a housing, wherein the first haptic effect is a vibrotactile haptic effect and is generated by the actuator on the housing.

22. The device of claim 18, the processor further adapted to:

detect an operating condition of the device;

generate a second haptic effect based at least on the detected operating condition.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein the detected operating condition comprises a proximity to a user of the device.

24. The device of claim 23, wherein the detected operating condition comprises the device is near a face of the user and wherein the second haptic effect comprises a reduced magnitude haptic effect.