Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-02
2002-12-17
Saras, Steven (Department: 2675)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S156000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06496200
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to haptic interfaces and, in particular, to varying the resolution of the haptic display of a haptic interface device.
2. Related Art
A “haptic interface device” provides a haptic sensation (haptic display) to a user of the haptic interface device in response to the user's interaction with an environment with which the haptic interface device is associated. “Haptic” refers to the sense of touch: haptic interface display devices thus produce sensations associated with the sense of touch, such as texture, force (e.g., frictional force, magnetic repulsion or attraction), vibration, mass, density, viscosity, temperature, moisture, or some combination of such sensations. Haptic interface devices can be embodied in a variety of different apparatus, such as, for example, apparatus for conveying force and/or vibrotactile sensation (e.g., a stylus, a movable arm, a wheel, a dial, a roller, a slider or a vibratory surface), apparatus for conveying thermal sensation (e.g., a thermally-controlled surface or air volume), and apparatus for conveying the sensation of moisture (e.g., a moisture-controlled surface or air volume). Haptic interface devices can be used in a wide variety of applications. For example, some joysticks and mice used with computers incorporate force feedback to provide a haptic display to a user of the joystick or mouse. Some paging devices are adapted to vibrate when a paging signal is received. Some toys produce vibrations as part of the interaction with the toy. These examples give an indication of the range of applications for which a haptic interface device can be used.
In a conventional haptic interface device, the character of the haptic display experienced by a user is determined by a haptic model that links the state of one or more aspects of the environment to the haptic sensation provided to the user. This is illustrated in
FIG. 1. A
user
101
uses an environment interaction control apparatus
103
to interact with an environment
102
via an environment interaction model
104
(either directly or via a haptic model
106
, as indicated in
FIG. 1
by the dashed lines between the environment interaction model
104
and the environment
102
, and the environment interaction model
104
and the haptic model
106
). The haptic model
106
“interprets” the user interaction with the environment
102
(based on information concerning the user interaction obtained either from the environment interaction model
104
or the environment
102
, as indicated in
FIG. 1
by the dashed line between the environment interaction model
104
and the haptic model
106
and the dashed arrow head entering the haptic model
106
from the environment
102
) to cause a haptic display apparatus
105
to produce a corresponding haptic display. The environment interaction model
104
can also cause a non-haptic display apparatus
107
to produce a non-haptic display (e.g., a visual display and/or an audio display). However, there need not necessarily be a non-haptic display (as indicated by the dashed lines between the non-haptic display apparatus
107
and the environment interaction model
104
and user
101
).
The magnitude of the change in haptic sensation per unit change in the state of one or more aspects of the environment is referred to herein as the “resolution” of the haptic display. For example, in a haptic interface device used for video browsing and/or editing, a knob can be rotated to advance through the frames of a video recording, a force being applied in opposition to rotation of the knob, to simulate a detent, at predetermined transitions from one video frame to the next in the video recording. The resolution of the haptic display in that haptic interface device can be the frequency of occurrence of detents in the video recording (e.g., the number of video frames between each detent). (It can also be possible, as illustrated by an example discussed further below, to define the resolution of the haptic display of such a haptic interface device in terms of the frequency of detents per unit duration of time over which the video was obtained.)
In previous haptic interface devices, the resolution of the haptic display cannot be changed by a user of the haptic interface device. (As explained further below, a “creator” of the haptic interface device may change the resolution of the haptic display.) In particular, a user of a haptic interface device has not been able to change the resolution of the haptic display during use of the haptic interface device. For example, in the above-described haptic interface device used for video browsing and/or editing, the resolution of the haptic display remains constant during use of the haptic interface device by a user: a given amount of rotation of the knob always advances the video recording through the same number of video frames and passes through the same number of detents.
Herein, a “user” of a haptic interface device is a person who engages in use of the haptic interface device for the intended purpose of the haptic interface device. A “creator” of a haptic interface device is a person who constructs some part or all of a haptic interface device (i.e., one or more of the models and/or apparatus of the haptic interface device as shown in
FIG. 1
) and thereby establishes the characteristics (e.g., haptic display resolution) of the haptic interface device. Thus, as used herein, a “creator” of a haptic interface device is not a “user” of the haptic interface device, though the same person can act, at different times, in both capacities. As indicated above, a creator of a haptic interface device can change the resolution of the haptic display of a haptic interface device. This can be done by appropriately modifying one or more of the models and/or apparatus of the haptic interface device to produce a desired haptic display resolution. For example, a video browsing and/or editing haptic interface device as described above has been implemented so that the number of detents per complete revolution of the knob is established, prior to use of the haptic interface device by a user, based upon the nature of the video recording (e.g., 30 detents per revolution for a video recording acquired at 30 frames per second and 24 detents per revolution for a video recording acquired at 24 frames per second). (Such a haptic interface device is an example of a haptic interface device for which the resolution of the haptic display is defined in terms of the frequency of detents per unit duration of time over which the video was obtained, as opposed to frequency of detents per video frames of the recording.)
Current haptic interface devices do not enable a user of the haptic interface device to change the resolution of the haptic display and, in particular, do not enable the user to change the resolution of the haptic display during interaction with the environment. Further, a user of a haptic interface device has not been able to change the resolution of the haptic display using an apparatus through which some or all of the haptic display is provided to the user. Additionally, current haptic interface devices do not enable continuous change in the resolution of the haptic display. Thus, the user's flexibility in interacting with the environment is inhibited when using a current haptic interface device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A haptic interface device produces a haptic display in response to a user's interaction with an environment with which the haptic interface device is associated. According to the invention, the resolution of the haptic display produced by the haptic interface device can be changed by the user. In particular, the invention can be implemented so that the haptic display resolution can be changed as the user interacts with the environment using the haptic interface device. Thus, the invention can enable a user to interact with a particular environment at different levels of detail (i.e., different resolutions) and, in particular, can enable
Bayley Oliver T.
Johnson Kimberly H.
MacLean Karon E.
Snibbe Scott S.
Verplank William L.
Bell Paul A.
Interval Research Corp.
Saras Steven
Van Pelt & Yi LLP
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